Over the mooncake

I was all set to write a big thing about the Church Stuff we did this weekend, and maybe a bit about the short visit from the Chinese Relatives, one of whom was bought (yes, BOUGHT) by Phillip's grandfather back in the Stone Ages, but really all I can think about right now is: I HEARD THE HEARTBEAT.

I heard the heartbeat!

I did not think this was going to be a big deal. Also, I am not that far along. It's sort of astounding that my doctor even found the heartbeat. In fact, I was steeling myself for an afternoon of "it's okay, it's just too early, that doesn't mean anything's wrong", but no! She found it! And it was a big deal! All three of us just sort of stood there staring goofily at each other (well, except for me, I was lying down, natch), and then I started laughing and bumped the little heartbeat-hearing-device and that was the end of that.

I have artfully arranged the five or six baby things I have in the spare bedroom (the baby's room!) in order to remind me that a baby will actually be living in there. I have one unisex onesie from a friend, one boy outfit and one girl outfit from my mother and a handful of books. I go into this room 400 times a day to check my email and since I hung the clothes from the curtain rod and the books are spread out on the bed, this should be enough, right? To make it real? But today, for possibly the first time since this whole thing started, I actually believe there is a baby in there. A baby who will wear that onesie!

ACK.

So! The Chinese relatives!

I have a bunch. They are all about four feet high (Phillip is a mutant) and none of them speak English, even though they KNOW English and COULD translate for me, and Phillip's dad is continually inviting them to our house to show off Number Two Son, his American wife and their little city townhouse. My job during these visits is to smile brightly, serve hot water and cut up fruit. Yesterday we had the in-laws, an uncle, an aunt, a purchased aunt/nanny person and her son and daughter-in-law. This is just one of many bizarre stories from my in-laws pre-immigration days. Apparently my father-in-law's family bought this woman, who is just a little older than my FIL's oldest sibling, to help her family and be a nanny, of sorts, to theirs. And now she's 80 some years old and traveling out of Hong Kong for the first time in her entire life, accompanied by her doting son and daughter-in-law, and treated like royalty by the people for whom she was once an indentured servant. Like my mother-in-law told me as they were leaving, sometimes these stories work out okay.

They didn't do much except sit on the couch. And take pictures in our kitchen. (OUR KITCHEN. A photo op! Dear God.) Phillip went around apologizing for how small our house is, and I could have kicked him, because these people live in HONG KONG for goodness' sake. You're lucky to have ten square feet to yourself in Hong Kong! I smiled. They smiled. They brought mooncakes. They looked at all the pictures. My mother-in-law showed them the linen closet and the washer and dryer. I asked for embarrassing childhood stories about my father-in-law, which made the old lady laugh and she kissed me when they left. Success!

Do YOUR in-laws show off your washer and dryer?

And I really did have a million and a half things to say about the church retreat on Saturday, which was a surprisingly good time, seeing as how I could barely get out of bed that morning. But I don't have the brain power and there are, like, nine dozen more retreats planned before we hit Christmas. Have no fear! We will have a website retreat debriefing one of these days, during which we shall analyze the significance and relevance of the exercises, the caliber of speaking and how the overall energy level jumps exponentially after a lunch buffet that includes ten trays of brownies. Mmm, brownies.

Comments

[Vanessa]

The heartbeat is way more exciting than the church retreat!! I'm so excited for you and Philip. Please, please, please keep us updated on your pregnancy. I have to live vicariously through someone!

[Angela]

Hey! Mooncakes!! I didn't know that's what those were called!! The Chinese ambassador visited during the Katrina timeperiod and he brought a gorgeous box filled with those mooncakes. I was so excited because they looked delightfully sugary, but was dismayed to find that I kind of hated them :(

And apparently I'm really going to have to spruce up the laundry room next time relatives visit--I had no idea it held so much mystique!