Move Over Target, Home Plus is on the Rise

Yesterday after my Korean/English lesson I decided to pick up some cat food at Home Plus. As I was walking from the cat food aisle towards the produce to pick up a few odds and ends, I passed the clothing section and decided to look for a few sweaters to cover up my bulging belly. I know my belly does not look very large yet, but it has become impossible to button my regular pants and still sit down comfortably. This means that I have to either leave the pants gaping at the top, close the button with the help of a rubber band, or wear maternity pants with ugly waistbands. I had a horrifying realization earlier this week when I tried to put together a favorite outfit and saw that I couldn't wear that particular sweater anymore because it was too short to cover up my unsightly waistband. So I resolved to find some longer, somewhat stretchy sweaters to get me through the winter months. Well, I hit the jackpot in the Home Plus clothing section. Whatever else you may say about Korean fashion, it is very well suited to pregnancy! Most sweaters and shirts are extra long, and I had no trouble finding a few cute ones that look like they'll stretch at least enough to get me through March. The blue and grey striped one, in particular has a lot of room to grow. I also bought a black sweater almost identical to one I bought at Target a couple years ago. The one from Target looks about 20 years old because it is so pilly. The Home Plus version promised Anti-Pilling technology!

New sweaters for maternity and beyond. Note that I am unable to figure out how to "look into the camera" and also that Chili wanted to appear on the blog again, sneaky thing.

I finished up my shopping and headed out to the parking area feeling very satisfied. In the parking garage, the Home Plus once again proved its worth: they've installed a brand new fancy parking indicator system that shows you where available spots are. As you drive up and down the rows of parking spaces, you can see which spots are available because they have a green light over them. Occupied spots have a red light. Each section of the parking lot has a bigger sign over it showing whether there are any open spots in that section. And at the end of most rows there is an LED sign telling you how many spots are open on that row and how many are open if you pass that row and continue to look. What a great idea! I was thoroughly impressed and probably only narrowly avoided several collisions because I was fascinated by all the technology. Three cheers for you, Home Plus!

The fancy new parking system at Home Plus - look for the red and green lights above the cars.

Happy 2010

We welcomed in the new year this week. Well, we were asleep for the beginning of the new year, due to Keegan's unwelcome stomach bug, but we had a great time visiting our friends Nate and Eliza in Mokpo over the weekend. We went to see "Avatar" at the theater, took a couple long, snowy walks with the dog, and ate lots of delicious food, including Eliza's wonderful frozen lemon mousse. Keegan somehow managed to find world's most delectable (and large) strawberries, and we consumed an entire large container of them between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.

I got a chance to restart lessons with my students this week, and along with that, I told them all the news of the new baby. Everyone was excited and happy, although disappointed that I won't be able to teach after the baby comes. I hope that I'll be able to find another interested teacher who can take at least some of my students because they are really making good progress.

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning, and everything is fine with the baby. I think the doctor was a little surprised to see me because he had forgotten that he told me to come back two weeks after my last visit. He did a quick ultrasound and told me to come back in a couple weeks for a blood test to check for any abnormalities with the fetus. It was, as always, good to see and hear the baby's heart and to watch him/her squirm around on the ultrasound screen.

I have started to feel better over the past few days. My appetite seems to be returning to normal, which is a welcome change. Now when I am hungry, there are a lot of appealing options to choose from, and I am enjoying my food a lot more. I've been sleeping better, and I seem to have more energy. I guess the second trimester may live up to it's billing as the most comfortable time after all. Of course, as I write this, I'm feel extra gassy and crabby, so we'll see.

Because of my indigestion and crabbiness, I'll wrap up here, but first, a few long-awaited pictures:

The belly at 15 weeks. It looks a lot bigger from above. And seems a lot bigger judging by my pants.

3D ultrasound. I think the arms and legs look extra long and gangly.

Week 14 Update

Welcome to Ellen's New Year's resolution number one: posting on the blog more often (at least once a week). I am making it public so that all you faithful readers can hold me to it! There's still plenty to tell everyone about regarding our adventures in Korea, so I have no reason to be so unenthusiastic about blogging. Hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers during my recent lackluster performance.

Now that we've made our pregnancy public knowledge, I can start publishing updates about Baby's (and Mommy's!) growth on here. Today is the end of the 14th week of our pregnancy, so we are officially at the beginning of the second trimester, which is supposedly known as the most comfortable part of the pregnancy, although I was so lucky during the first trimester that I haven't noticed much of a change. Baby's development from week to week has slowed - not so many new organs and bodily systems but much more growth. According to my pregnancy books, the baby is now the size of a clenched fist (hopefully mine and not Michael Jordan's). This week, the baby is starting to grow hair and eyebrows (unless it's destined to be a baldy like me), and its ears are moving up from the neck to a more "normal" place on the head. The baby's muscles and bones continue to develop, and it can make more and more sophisticated movements. Unfortunately, it's still too small for me to be able to feel anything - I am so excited about feeling the first movement! I think I probably have another month or two to go for that, though.

I'm continuing to feel pretty well. I'm still very hungry in the afternoons and a little less hungry in the mornings and evenings, which seems to balance me out pretty well. I gained my first pound this week, and my belly is definitely starting to grow a little. The belly actually sticks around in the mornings now and doesn't just disappear if I haven't eaten in a while. I can't believe how much bigger it's going to get! I also started exercising again this week after being instructed by the doctor to take it easy during the first trimester. I did a 30-minute run/walk (the running was only two 5-minute sessions - I am taking it very, very easy) on Tuesday, and yesterday I went to the pool and swam four easy 250's. It feels great to be exercising again, and I feel wonderful while working out (ok, a little awkward running), but I am very tired afterwards. Also, it pains me to admit it, but I am a little sore from Tuesday's run. Clearly, I have a long way to go. I am going to try to work up to 3 miles running and maybe 1500 meters swimming, but I will pay a lot of attention to my body and back off if things get uncomfortable.

Now that the pregnancy is public knowledge, we've been getting some offers of used baby items that we can borrow or have. There are so many families here that we should be able to gather a number of supplies without having to purchase everything new. We are so grateful to those who are willing to share and feel very good about being able to reuse items that often have a pretty short period of usefulness.

I think that's about all that's new this week. My next doctor's appointment is this Tuesday, so stay tuned for the newest ultrasound and belly photos!

A Dreary Week

This past week has consisted of day after day of nasty, chilly, gray, cloudy, rainy and horribly windy weather. The cats and I have spent much of it reclining close together on bed or couch, soaking up each other's body heat and zoning out completely. Fortunately, there is one plus side to such weather: using our Korean floor heating. The house is now very cozy and warm, and the cats find it difficult to walk more than a few feet without flopping over to soak up the heat radiating from the floor. Here they are in the office, taking advantage of their favorite spots:

Just when the lethargy seemed to be getting too much, we had a bit of excitement this afternoon. A hawk lighted on the railing outside our guest room window with a sparrow in its talons.

It was totally focused on devouring its prey and didn't notice Chili watching with rapt attention or me approaching slowly and carefully with the camera.


I don't know how long it stayed because I had to leave for a lunch date, but I'm sure Chili could tell you exactly how long he was there. Unfortunately she, like Keegan, is not interested in being a contributor to this blog.

Happy Halloween!

Keegan and I had a fun Halloween this year, despite coming up with our costumes at the absolute last minute. Mine relied heavily on a mask, and Keegan's relied heavily on his facial hair. We wore our costumes to a Halloween party that a group of foreigners put on in a bar downtown. We were a bit worried on the way to the party because we were so clearly the only people on the streets of Okpo wearing costumes, but we shouldn't have worried. There was a really good turnout at the party and some really spectacular costumes. My favorite was Keegan's co-worker Chris, who made himself a "dead biker" costume. And there was dancing! Those of you who know me well know that I very often lament a lack of opportunities for dancing. So I was quite happy. Here are some photos:

Keegan as a rock star with Chris post-bike-accident, and Michael Phelps.

Ellen as a black cat. You can't see my stunning pantyhose and newspaper tail.