Week 35 – Lucy Frances

Date: 2010.06.08 | Category: Fungbaby 2 | Response: 0

Yes, you are reading this correctly folks – we are just 5 weeks away from welcoming Lucy Frances into the world; where has the time gone!?!? We are just 2 weeks away from being “full term” and overall, we are celebrating good news since medically, there’s an excellent chance that Lucy will have no complications if born at 35 weeks or later. She’s approximately 5 pounds now and is nearly 18 inches. Her skull is still fairly soft and isn’t yet completely fused so she can squeeze through the birth canal.

Erin and I are doing well – we are experiencing the same feelings of being nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time and we are mentally trying to prepare ourselves for life with two little ones. We recently completed Nellie’s “Big Girl” bedroom and are only making slight modifications to the nursery to personalize it for Lucy – sticking with the black and white polka dot theme for Lucy and Erin did a fantastic job with a pink/white/teapot them for Nellie’s new room.

We will certainly keep you all posted and appreciate your thoughts and prayers – almost game day!

Lots of love,

Family L.E.N.D.

Week 33 – Lucy Frances

Date: 2010.05.25 | Category: Fungbaby 2 | Response: 0

We officially hit the 33 week mark yesterday and are happy to report that everything is going well with the pregnancy. Erin had a check up with the doctor on Friday and everything seems to be going along just fine – her blood pressure is good, weight gain is within the range, and Lucy’s heartbeat is strong and just fluttering away.  Week 34 visit is next Thursday and then once we hit week 36, we will be going in weekly up until the big day.

If you are wondering about where things are with Lucy’s development, she is about 3 1/2 pounds and is gaining as much as eight ounces a week.  She continues to sprout like a reed, her arms and legs perfectly proportioned to the rest of her body. She measures between 15 and 16 inches and has little room to wiggle, but she’s still quite active, even if it means she has to squirm around most of the time.

Hope all is well with you all out there and we thank you again for your thoughts and prayers!

Lucy Frances Chung – 30 weeks

Date: 2010.05.19 | Category: Fungbaby 2 | Response: 0

We are officially at week 32 this week, but two weeks ago we went for our checkup and had a 3-D ultrasound done – the technology is absolutely amazing. It is hard to believe that we are just 8 weeks away from welcoming our second little bundle of joy, Lucy Frances, into the world.

Week 30 photos at: – make sure you look to find the one where she has her eye open!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623098416604/

Happy 1st Birthday Nellie Rose!

Date: 2010.05.19 | Category: Nellie Rose | Response: 0

Where does the time go?! This is a question that Erin and I seem to be asking ourselves a lot recently – it is like we went to sleep one night and when we woke up, 13 months had gone by…

I guess I am feeling the same way about keeping up with posts here – I made the entry at Easter and then without realizing it, a month had gone by and it occurred to me that we had not posted about Nellie’s birthday party. As you know, her official big day is Tax Day – April 15 but we had the party for her on the 17th since it was a Saturday….

We wanted to have a traditional Korean 1st birthday since it is a big one in the Korean culture and a time when Nellie chooses her future. The Korean term for first birthday is dol-jan-gee and we had a nice party for her at Woo Lae Oak restaurant in Tyson’s Corner, VA. The food was all traditional and we even had a cake with a replica of Nellie in her traditional Korean custom dress (han-bok) as the cake topper.

After we ate, it was time for Nellie to choose two items that were set before her. Specifically, we placed thread for long life, a stethoscope for a profession in medicine, money for wealth, a golf ball for athletics, rice for a career in government service, and a pencil for scholarly pursuits. The idea is whatever she chooses first will be her primary destiny and the other item is her secondary….

Nellie chose the golf ball first and the stethoscope second – we suppose that this translates into her pursuing a career in sports medicine….

You can see photos of the big day at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623826183465/

It was so nice to have our friends and family share the big day with us and to officially celebrate Nellie’s first year!

Nellie Rose – Easter 2010

Date: 2010.04.11 | Category: Nellie Rose | Response: 0

So I am sitting at National Airport waiting on a flight to Atlanta – need to get there to then catch a flight to Nashville today. I am attending a conference there this week for work and much to my dismay this morning, my flight scheduled for 8am was bumped to 12pm due to mechanical problems. Guess I should have checked my flight status before leaving home…sigh. Needless to say, I have some time here and thought I would post an update….

We had a great Easter weekend just relaxing at home – nice not to hit the road and travel anywhere and to just spend the time together as a family. On Saturday we took Nellie to see the Easter Bunny at Montgomery Mall so that she could meet him and get her picture with the dearly beloved Peter Cottontail- she LOVED it so much and was enthralled at the big ears and I think that the fur reminded her of a stuffed animal….it was hard to pull her away after the photos had been snapped. In fact, while we were in line waiting to have the photo taken, Nellie was essentially lunging to try to get to Peter – when it was our turn, I took her right up there, but the photographer suggested that we wait a couple of minutes until he finished processing the previous customer lest we have a “freak out.” Well, when I pulled Nellie back from Peter, that is when the freak out happened – too funny. It was however short lived and she was all smiles and giggles after she got back to sit with him.

After the visit with Peter Cottontail, we went to Seneca Creek State Park and had a little picnic – Nellie enjoyed seeing other kids running around and could not take her eyes off the lake – she looked at it like she was going to one day swim across it….a funny, kind of longing look to get into the water. Perhaps she will be the next Michael Phelps – although we hope that she does not inhale

Sunday we went to Mass and there was a little Easter Egg hunt afterward at the church where she got to see the Easter Bunny yet again. I wonder if she was asking herself “Why does this bunny look different than the one at the mall?” – cannot wait until she starts to talk so that we can get some feedback and insight into what it going through her brain… We then went home and Erin prepared a wonderful dinner – ham, au gratin potatoes, garlic/lime asparagus, a tossed salad and peach pie for dessert. Yum!

See photos from the weekend at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623654805003/

Hope you all are well and that you had a nice Easter weekend too!

Fungbaby 2 – Week 24 Update

Date: 2010.03.24 | Category: Fungbaby 2 | Response: 0

First and foremost – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Erin! Today we celebrate 34 years of having Mrs. Fowler in the world – woo hoo! There are festivities planned for the weekend, but she does not know what they are – we have been doing a-clue-a-day and it is quite fun to hear what she thinks may be in store for her….will keep you posted Tonight we are having Matt and Brandy, along with some close friends over to our house for a little cookout – just some burgers and dogs on the deck (and an ice cream cake of course) to enjoy the 70 degree weather and celebrate Erin. Happy Birthday my dear….

On the baby front,  we had our 24 week checkup with the doctor yesterday and everything is going along very well with the pregnancy – heard the heartbeat and everything is looking a-ok. We go back in a month for the 28 week visit and Erin will do the glucose test to check for gestational diabetes and we will have a sonogram to check on the development and get an estimate about the size of our little pea in the pod.

Fungbaby 2  gained about 4 ounces since last week, putting her at just over a pound. She’s almost a foot long – picture a footlong sub sandwich – and while she is still a  a pretty lean figure at this point, her body is filling out proportionally and she’ll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing “branches” of the respiratory “tree” as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

She has developed the sweet face we will all soon see, with eyes and ears placed just where they should be. She’s big enough that she can no longer do cartwheels and tumbles, but she’s just as touchy-feely with her surroundings as she has been. She’s also even more attuned into sounds outside the womb. If a loud noise disturbs her, she may be restless for hours.

Nellie Rose – Two “Firsts” in One Week

Date: 2010.03.14 | Category: Nellie Rose | Response: 1

This was a week of “firsts” for Nellie – her first haircut and her first friend birthday party!

After thinking and re-thinking about getting her hair cut, we decided to pull the trigger on Saturday and took Nellie to Cartoon Cuts – an establishment that caters to kids and they can sit and watch cartoons while getting their hair cut. An amazing concept, especially for $16.99 for ALL children 12 and under – Erin and I both agree that we got into the wrong business Nellie was her usual cool, calm and collected self and it did not seem to be a big deal to her at all….well, I guess that is because it really was just a matter of 6-7 snips and she was all done…she got a little certificate, complete with a baggie to save her first locks. She looks great and her hair is all nice and even now – no more crazy, stringy strands…she is growing up so fast!

Today, Nellie went to her friend Emily’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Emily turned 2 years old and this was Nellie’s first birthday party with other kids. If you have never experienced a Chuck E. Cheese, you gotta go – the place is a combination of arcade, pizza parlor with singing robotic animals and the central character is an oversized mouse/rat named Chuck E. Cheese. It really is one of those places that you have to experience to get the full effect, but I can see what all the rage is about – the kids (and the adults – I will admit) had a blast! While Nellie is too little to play many of the games, she loved riding along with Bob the Builder, with Chuck E. in his school bus, and experiencing a flying simulator. Daddy liked whacking the moles on the head, playing games for tickets, and dancing with Nellie to the music of the robotic animal band.

Photos and some videos from the birthday party as well as the haircut can be found in her 10 month Flickr photo set at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623347229224/

Fungbaby 2 – week 23

Date: 2010.03.14 | Category: Fungbaby 2 | Response: 0

It has been a while since we have posted an update about little Fungbaby 2 and we just wanted to let you all know that things are going well. Today starts week 23 of the pregnancy and things are going well – we will go for another visit to the doctor next Monday, March 22 and then we start going every two weeks!! My my how the time is flying.

The most recent pictures (week 20) can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/4430267399/in/set-72157623098416604/

We are working hard around the house to get things ready for our new little bundle of joy. The guest bedroom has been dismantled and that will become Nellie’s new “big girl” room. Additionally, we are having an attic fan and stairs installed so that we can lay some flooring up there and utilize the space for the things that we do not use all of the time (holiday decorations, etc) – we sure do need the extra space! We just finished up a project to put crown moulding in all of the upstairs bedrooms and hallway – it really makes a big difference and we are happy to have that project done!

More to come in a couple of weeks – we appreciate the notes, thoughts and prayers!

Nellie Rose – 10 Months

Date: 2010.02.23 | Category: Nellie Rose | Response: 0

We are just two months away from the big day – yep, just two months until Nellie Rose turns 1 year old! Where has the time gone?!?! We hit the 10 month mark and are happy to report that Nellie is growing and developing like a champ – she has developed into quite the little crawler, is pulling herself up in her crib and on furniture and you can definitely see her personality more and more with each day. It will not be long before she takes those first steps….

She continues to enjoy going to school (a.k.a. daycare) and shows her excitement each morning by waving good morning to her teachers and virtually diving out of Daddy’s arms to go to the play mat with the other kids. She definitely seems like a little social butterfly and is getting along with all of the other kids – in fact, one day recently when we picked her up, the teachers explained that she was going to sleep well that night because she spent the whole day crawling from side to side around the partition that divides the infant room so that she could see what was going on…we laughed and it was no surprise to us that she had to be in the “mix” with the other kids and that she did not want to miss out on any of the action….

Some of you have asked about her helmet/hat and we are happy to report that she is all done with that and we are very happy with the results. While there was a recommendation to go with another helmet, there was no guarantee that it would work and that there would be increased, significant change and so we decided not to pursue the treatment further. The change with the helmet treatment was significant and Nellie now has a MUCH more round head than she did 5 months ago and she looks great.

To see 10 month pictures, please click:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623347229224/

Additionally, some photos of Nellie sledding during the winter blizzard have been added to the Snowpacalypse photo set and you can see those at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623367605262/

Snowpacalypse/Snowmageddon 2010

Date: 2010.02.06 | Category: Family | Response: 0

If you missed the news about the winter storm that slammed the mid-Atlantic region over the past 36-48 hours, you must have been under a rock somewhere or completely otherwise disconnected from the news….it was a whopper. The snow started falling Friday morning around 10 am and it just stopped here at about 5pm (Saturday evening). The news reports are that between 20 and 30 inches fell and here in Gaithersburg, I measured 21 inches on the sidewalk in front of our house…..the drifts in the yard and elsewhere, must have been at least 3 feet.

It was a light fluffy kind of snow, but because of the amount, it compacted and got heavy – my arms, legs and back can attest to this after spending the day shoveling us out of the mess While Nellie did not exactly play in it today, she took a few minutes for a photo op – check out the pics at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlchung/sets/72157623367605262/

Hope you all are safe and warm out there! Going to be interesting to see the clean up from all of this….

Our best,
Family D.E.N. +1