Beware the Snoring Bear!

Dear Elizabeth,

In this lead-up to becoming parents, your mother and I have discussed a number of things. One of them is bed-sharing. I’m in the opinion that as in most cultures children and parents regularly co-sleep, often on the floor or ground, that we could make good with trying the same in our bed. Selina seems to think it’s a good thing to try out.

The results on whether it’s advisable or not vary greatly, and most of these studies and opinions come from Americans and Western-based physicians. One of the major benefits, especially in the days and weeks following birth, is the nearly effortless access to feeding for the infant, not to mention mom not having to get out of bed to nurse.

But several days ago Selina mentioned to me that our sharing the bed with you might not be such a good idea, and her reason was this: you won’t be able to get a wink with my snoring!

She’s yet to record or provide any evidence that this is in fact the case, but I’ll have to trust that she’s not making it up. And if she’s right, then we just might have to make a lot more use of the crib than we’ve originally intended. It’s a bit of a bummer as I was looking forward to at least trying it.

In the end, if you turn out to be a major crier, I just might end up sleeping a lot on the couch or in my office chair, so it still might work out as planned — mostly. Either way, we’ll figure it out, even if it means infant ear plugs for you and a large balled up sock for yours truly.

Love,

Dad

P.S.

Your mother told me that last night, with my snoring and your kicking and doing somersaults all night, she barely got more than a few winks. She ended up sleeping until 2:00 in the afternoon as a result. Mom’s a little miffed at the two of us. Tread lightly, Elizabeth.

Dad (October 29, 2014)

Lucy vs. the Baby Bump

Dear Elizabeth,

Lucy has since the beginning obviously been Selina’s cat. She, for the most part, loathes my presence. But she loves my now-unused office chair.

Recently, she’s developed a new habit: sleeping all over that baby bump. We’re not sure if this is normal, or if it has anything to do with the pregnancy, like a sort of bonding or domination sort of thing, but it’s caught our attention and proven to be amusing.

What’s funny is that she finds it so comfortable, despite how awkward she has to position herself. And you’re in the habit of kicking up a fuss, literally, when any pressure is applied to your mother’s upper belly. When Selina reads, for example, she likes to rest her book there, and you always respond by kicking. Lucy, apparently, either doesn’t care or is making a statement. Either way, she’s unfazed by your protests, and that makes all of this so much more entertaining.

So long as you two get along once you’re here in the flesh, we’ll rest easy.

Love,

Dad

Living It!

Hi there,

I’ve been meaning to write for a couple days already, but just haven’t been able to slow down enough. I have the afternoon off and your mother is taking a nap, and I’m caught up with pretty much everything else, so I thought I’d catch you up on what’s going on with us.

We had quite a long weekend. I took Friday off, so we headed to Houtong, a small village near the coast known as the “cat village,” where dozens of well-cared-for stray cats have taken refuge and are the main attraction. We’ve been meaning to check it out for some time. From there we fought our way through traffic to have dinner at Bossa Nova, on the northwestern coast, overlooking the ocean. To top it off, we headed to another favorite seaside spot, Youngdoor, for dessert and tea, then capped the night off visiting friends at Alleycat’s in Tianmu.

 

On Saturday we had dinner at The H.O.P. with a friend who’s back on the island, visiting from Saudi Arabia, and his wife. Not having to drive, I relished in the joint’s exquisite imported beer selection, having more than my share and loving it. I’ve never been a big drinker anyway, but having not had wheels for so long, I’ve recently had to pass on the occasional drink due to having to drive. So since we were having dinner not too far from home, we took the bus and I enjoyed myself as much as possible. Selina did too, stuffing herself with pizza, salad and buffalo wings.

After being out and about the past two days, a lazy Sunday at home was in order. And your mother caught up on some much-needed extra sleep. I spent much of the day in the kitchen, something I too enjoy immenselybut have had so little time to do lately.

You’ve been kicking a lot, Selina tells me. I’ve begun reading a bit to you while we’re settling into bed for the night. When I stop, you resume kicking. And last night you seemed to have shown a liking for Miles Davis. As soon as I switched from the radio to it, you began kicking up a storm. We guess you were dancing.

Your mother’s belly has been stretching ever so fast. Some of her favorite dresses are going to need to be retired very soon, or put away for a while. I’m still enjoying this process a lot.

Love,

Dad

You kick, I eat. Deal?

Hello again,

I woke up sometime in the early morning to Selina crawling into bed. And for some reason, my olfactory senses were at their peak, especially for such an odd time and place. Your mother smelled like a Taiwanese kitchen worker — oil, eggs, and whatever else. If I hadn’t been so beat, I’d have been hungry.

Her story: She woke up at 7:00 because you were kicking. (She’s been commenting much recently about you moving a lot, but I haven’t had the chance of witnessing it firsthand yet.) And so she got up, got dressed and went out in search of breakfast.

After fighting with the snooze for a few minutes, I rose to find a neatly packaged egg-wrap on my desk. What a nice surprise.

I could really get used to this, not having to prepare breakfast. But let’s try to work out a schedule. Can we? I get up early on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you can time those kicks for around 7:00-7:30, that gives Mom enough time to get out the door, feed herself, and have a nice hot breakfast for me when I get up at 8:30. Deal?

Dad