23 weeks, 1 day

This is from a couple of days ago, right before I went to work. Also, it's the last day I can wear that shirt for a while, since it kept riding up and I had to keep pulling it down! :)

This shirt has been retired for the season ;)

Another cool thing about the past several weeks is baby movement! I started to feel him move at around 16 weeks, but it was a teeny-tiny feeling. Now, there are hard little jabs and kicks. It's awesome :) I can even tell the difference between his movements and hiccups! It does still feel weird, since I'm not the one moving, and it's even weirder that I can actually see the little jumps on my belly. The best part is that Steve has been able to feel him too.

Possibilities

Living in Korea has been an interesting experience, to say the least. You get kids and adults trying to say "hi" to you just to say they spoke to a foreigner. I'm "lucky" in that I look like just another white foreigner and I can just ignore them, but it's harder for me to not say anything to people when I'm out with my husband. Being a black man not near a military base gets him tons of stares, points, unwanted conversations, and even people coming up trying to touch him. He's a much better person than I am about it, though. He'll either humor those people or ignore them. I go Momma Bear on them sometimes, which is probably embarrassing to him. But I can't help it! It's one thing to say things like "hello" and keep it moving, but it moves into a totally different territory when you are getting pointed at or even getting physical with strangers on the street.

There is a phone store a block down the street, which we have to walk by every time we go to the bus stop or go to the convenience store or the bakery or go out to eat. So pretty much all the time. One time, one of the phone store employees was standing outside and he came to give Steve a hug. Every other interaction this guy has had with Steve has been a small "hello." All of a sudden, because his buddies were standing there, he thought it would be cool to go and give the foreign black guy a hug. I wasn't having any of that. So I stepped in front of Steve and was like, "NO." Then I kind of pulled Steve with me to keep walking, all the while giving the phone store guy a dirty look. He did kind of apologize, and ever since then, he has kept his distance. But it shouldn't have to take someone to step in a refuse to be a spectacle to stop people around here from using the foreigners as their entertainment.

This is not to say that it happens all the time. But we have lived in the same area for so long that it has gotten old. This is also not to put down all Korean people. I DO understand that we do stand out just because of our non-Korean looks, but at the same time, it's obviously rude to stare and point and make a mockery of people. The phone store guy example just goes to show that it isn't just the kids who do this. You have people of all ages who see someone different and point him or her out to their friends.

This worries me even more as my due date gets closer. I won't be going out on walks with the baby immediately after he's born, obviously, but when I do start leaving the house with him is what makes me very nervous. We are planning on going back to the States a couple of months after he gets here, but we are planning to return to Korea a few months after that. We have been looking at strollers, and one of the requirements I need in a stroller is a sunshade which covers the entire open area where the baby is (if that made sense). This is not so much to protect him from the sun as much as it is to protect him from the people around here. This makes me sad. I shouldn't have to make plans this far in advance as far as keeping my baby safe from strangers poking and pointing at him.

Seeing a foreign woman pushing a stroller is going to make people do a double-take. Getting a glimpse of a half-black half-latino baby is going to make people stare and make comments. Ajummas (older Korean women) are going to want to talk to me and touch him, and I am already not okay with that. It's one thing to say, "Oh, what a cute baby!" and another to come and try to hold him and put their hands all over him just because of how different he is. Maybe things won't be like that when the time comes, but I don't want to take ANY chances. So for now, I'll keep making my plans to get the stroller I want and keep my child as safe as I can keep him. 

Irks Me

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal opinion of things around here. You don't like it, you don't have to read it. You disagree, that's fine, but don't attack me. Mmmkay? Thanks :)

I just got back from a shopping trip across the street at the department store. And again, this 30-minute trip reinforced my intense dislike of shopping in Korea. My biggest irk is the impatience of everyone around me. Yes, old lady and young woman, I am quite clearly in line in front of you. And I was clearly here before you. I'm not just standing at the checkout line for the fun of it. So quit trying to nudge your way past me in line. And when they are wrapping up my purchase, DON'T set your stuff on the counter before I've even paid. I really don't think anyone is going to try and sneak their stuff in front of yours.

The lack of lines around here really bugs me too. Even when they have the machines where you can go and take a number, people still try to sneak in without a number. This happens at the bank so much.

I was coming back to my apartment and the elevator got to my floor. The doors opened, and there was a man standing right in front of the elevator doors, trying to get on even before I got off. This happens way too often here as well. People, it would really go a lot faster if you let all the people off the elevator first before you tried to get on. Even while I tried to go around him to get off the freakin' elevator, he was moving his way in like it was going to kill him to wait an extra two seconds for me to get out.

This whole impatience thing is out of hand. Even when we are going to the movie theater and we take the elevator up, we'll be the first ones waiting for the elevator. More people show up for the elevator, and instead of making some sort of organized line to let the people who were waiting first get on the elevator first, there is a mad rush to get on the elevator. There are times when I have to literally park myself in front of the doors in order to get on the stupid elevator so I'm not left last--which has happened before. One time, my naive self thought it would be an organized thing where the first people waiting would be the first on. I was one of those first people in line. The elevator came, the mad rush began, and before I could even take a step towards the elevator, the doors closed and I was forced to wait until the next one came. Unfortunately, now I'm forced to be one of "those" rude people from time to time.

This is how Korea makes me feel sometimes.
Source: Angry Me

Before, it was something I had to deal with just because it wasn't ever going to change. But now, it makes me nervous as far as the safety of the little guy in my belly. Because those mad rushes aren't organized. Sometimes, they are a full-out push-fest, and because of my lack of height, I end up getting pushed around more than others.

Times like today, it really makes me excited to go back home (even if just for a few months).

I Just Can't Win...

Leave me alone!

This morning, I ran into one of the teachers I worked with when I was at RT, and she asked the usual questions about my pregnancy. Then she goes, "But you're still slim..." with a questioning look on her face. To me, it was obvious that she was either asking if I was on a diet, or she was curious as to why I hadn't been gaining much weight. This bothers me so much!
 First of all, any of my weight gain or lack of it is MY business. I'm already pretty stressed because I've actually been TRYING to gain weight and I can't. So when someone makes it their business to find out about my weight, it stresses me out even more. Trust me, I am NOT on any sort of diet or even a workout plan. I stopped exercising a week before I found out I was pregnant (because of a slight back injury and I was taking a break), and I try to go on walks sometimes. But it's hard because my hip joints and lower back hurt so bad, I can't walk very for very long without stopping. I've gotten to where I have been actively trying to ignore my weight and trying to eat as much as I can--even when I'm not hungry!
 Second, just because I haven't ballooned like other pregnant women doesn't mean anything. Everyone has different bodies, and as long as my baby is healthy and growing like he's supposed to, I shouldn't worry. When I wasn't pregnant, it was all about being skinny. Now, I apparently have to be 200 pounds. Yes, the doctor told me that at this point, because I haven't gained much weight, to up my meal intake to four meals a day and to have several snacks in between. So that's what I've been trying to do. So thank you very much, but the only people I trust as far as my body and my baby are my doctor, Steve, and myself. I shouldn't have to be stressed just because of your perception of how I should treat my body.
So, yeah. MY body. MY baby. MY business.
Just really needed to get that off my chest.

On to New Things/ 21 weeks

My trusty computer, the one I bought like a week before coming to Korea, has finally taken its last bit of electricity and died. It happened yesterday, and we went to the electronics market at Yongsan and got TWO laptops. They were having some sort of after-Chu-Seok deal, and we got really good deals on them. So we are pretty excited about that. Yay!

On a pregnancy note, everything continues to be about the same. Sleep is terrible because of the hip pain I've been getting. Nothing I can really do about that, so I've just been trying to rest as much as possible. I'll try to get a couple of pics up soon.

20 weeks, 1 day

I've made it to the halfway mark! We had an ultrasound yesterday, and we are definitely, one-hundred percent having a boy :) Dr. C. said everything looked perfect, and recommended for me to eat four regular meals with snacks in between each day. I guess this means that although I haven't gained much weight thus far, I should start trying to add pounds now. Which also makes sense, since from all the things I've been reading about recommend trying to gain about a pound a week starting in the second trimester. Baby continues to be breech, but again, because it is so early, he has tons of room to twirl and flip and twist. So there is nothing to be concerned about until week 37. Dr. C. also said this ultrasound would be the last where we'd be able to see baby's entire body at once. Next time, he'll be too big for one whole shot, so we'll see him in parts. Another pretty cool thing from this ultrasound was that we saw all his little fingers and toes, which was an unexpected surprise.

Everything has been pretty much the same as far as my physical well-being. He's been moving around quite a bit, but still will only move and then stop before I can put my hand on where he moved. The hip joint pain is still there, and I've been able to fall asleep at night faster than I've ever been able to in my life (aside from when I was a baby, I suppose). I've been getting more tired faster when I stand for too long in class, and after about three straight classes of standing, I start getting backaches. I've also started getting hungry more quickly, but again that's probably because I can't finish my meals in one sitting. Everything seems to be fine, and it seems like now, time is really starting to speed up.

Last week, one of the moms gave us this sweet little shirt. It was the first baby item we got, so I HAD to document it! I might do that with all our outfits, but we'll see about that.

Baby's first gift!

It's nice because it's a Korean-style shirt, so it can be a reminder of our time here.

I do know that I have to get a shot of the little Nike socks I bought. They look like real shoes! Anyway, until then, here's a shot of our son from our appointment yesterday <3

He had his legs up like that most of the time! Love :)

Unfortunately, we have to wait five weeks for our next appointment. It'll be the glucose test, and it'll feel like FOREVER until then. Good part about that, though, is that it'll be right after our wedding anniversary AND my birthday. So I suppose I'll have a lot to look forward to in a short amount of time. Also, I'll be six months by then, and in the homestretch.