Haven't Posted in 2 Months!

Amazing. I haven't posted in over two months. A lot has changed, most notably... our baby shower, and of course the size of Kathy's tummy. Tomorrow will be the beginning of the 35th week!



Our Baby Shower was last week. We were surrounded by our close family and friends. Up until the shower, Kathy and I were freaking out a bit. With so many kicks, and rolls, and other such baby movements we started to think, what if our baby comes early? Well then, we'll have a sum total of two outfits, one baby bottle, and that's about it. Now, simply one week after the baby shower, we have truly been showered with the following: adorable outfits, blankets galore, an amazing all metal and pearl finished baby crib, great play mats, wonderful bath sets, lotions, great winnie the poo crib set, etc.




Our baby is kicking up a storm. She is so active, and Kathy and I have now realized that she could come any time. Kathy is eating very healthy as usual, one time she ate over 15 tangerines in one sitting. Kathy is taking Yoga for Pregnancy. On Mondays we're taking a Bradley natural child birth class. So far so good.

Our little girl is probably 5 pounds at least!

So Many Kicks!

Kathy and I are in our 26th week. Our little baby girl is kicking so much that Kathy wakes up from her sleep. She's very active and strong too. I take great delight placing my hand on Kathy's tummy while she sleeps to feel all the kicks.

Kathy is very much craving tangerines - she'll eat as many as six tangerines in one sitting. Kathy has no appetite for steak, chicken, nor pork. Kathy's taking prenatal vitamins each and every day.

Now, we're in the process of opening up a baby registry and selecting a name for our baby. I told eBay about us expecting a baby, and my boss was very supportive - stating that I will soon have weekly doctor appointments and to just send an email when I need to attend with Kathy. So far, I have made it to every appointment, and don't plan anything different!

She's a Girl!

Just what we were hoping for! The ultrasound on Wednesday, with no uncertainty, indicated that Little Baby Sexton is a girl! All along we were hoping for a girl to be our first baby and even began our baby shopping in Peru and bought very cute outfits for a baby girl.


The funniest thing happened during the ultrasound. As the technician was showing us the telltale anatomy (or lack of) of our baby girl, she then began to pee! Right there on the big-screen of the ultrasound, I saw a splash of water jet on out of the baby! This lasted for a few seconds, and the technician said she hardly ever gets to see a pee episode on the ultrasound!

Dad gave me a very nice tip once we bring home our baby - he said he learned of this from super daddy Michael Saunders. I read a lot about tummy time and the importance in the first month for neck muscle development for the quickly growing head - I heard from Dad that Mike would do tummy time every day with the baby on his tummy, tummy to tummy. I'm looking forward to that moment - what a great way to bond with the baby - after all, I won't get in on any feeding time.

Kathy and I are now thinking about names!

Love to all family and friends who might be still reading this!

Ultrasound to Know Sex of Baby on 1/28

Hello Everybody!

Kathy and I have an appointment this coming Wednesday, for the telltale ultrasound! We'll know if we have a baby girl or a baby boy!

We'll post the news in four short days!

Wish us luck!

Love,
Ed and Kathy

Back from Peru!

Hello Family and Friends-

We're back from Peru - our 28 days there were amazing and action packed! We visited Machu Picchu, had an expedition into the Amazon Rainforest near Iquitos, and scoured Lima for countless weeks with family and friends.

We met with many artisans, and bought over 2,000 items to bring back for "Lindo Peru Imports". Coming back to the US we decided to jettison our conventional type luggage, and exchange them for an all plastic, zero weight, gigantic bag. In addition, we decided to each pay for an extra bag, yielding a combined bag total of 6 check-in and 2 carry-on. Little did we know that every official in the airports (both Lima and San Francisco) would be shocked at our luggage allowance.


Luckily we declared all the goods, and we broke no laws. The Taca employee helping us with our bags in Lima kindly told us that 7 out of 8 bags were significantly overweight (40 lbs allowed - each bag was over by 10-20 lbs). An overweight bag costs $50 additional, and two extra bags cost $100 each. We should have been charged $500 in extra bag/weight, but for some reason he was kind and only charged us $100! In the Lima airport, a plain clothed police officer detained us for a few minutes asking why we have a mountain of luggage. We think he wanted a bribe, but when Kathy mentioned that her Dad is affiliated with the police force, he said "Okay, have a nice day!". Thanks Crusty!

Kathy and I had a wonderful time bonding with family in Peru. This trip gave me a chance to finally know Orlando Junior, to see Christian in his natural element, and to visit with Ghil as she starts her round of classes. We stayed in the Jesus Maria apartment for the whole vacation ad probably saved around $2,000 in hotel charges. Despite the savings, it was so worth it to be in the apartment so close with family and it would not have been such a great trip otherwise.

The meals we had in Peru were amazing. On average, one eats for the low low price of $2-$3 dollars. When we would have group dinners having Pollo a La Brasa, salad, Inca Kola, desserts, french fries, the works, each person would eat for $4.00. Taxi cabs across the city, lasting for 15-20 minutes would only cost 15 S/. which is like $5.00.

We can't wait to go back. I immediately started looking into airfare for this coming year, and booking in advance the cost is around $340 round trip!


We'll be back Peru! Here are pictures of us in Cusco, taking pictures with the Cholitas. Notice the baby, baby llama, and the big piece of corn in one girls hand. This is called choclo, and the corn nuggets are gigantic (about the size of a quarter)- and delicious!

FIrst Kick Felt after Machu Picchu!

Kathy and I are so excited to tell the family that we felt the first kick from our baby on Sunday! This happened one day after the Machu Picchu ascension!

Kathy has been so strong during the Machu Picchu trip, with the altitude, climbing, long train rides, and a little rainy weather. We later read in the paper, that on Monday, due to the rain, certain parts of Cusco received extensive landslides, which trapped all tourists from travelling home for many days. We got lucky!

Kathy's Graduation This Friday!

Guess what Family and Friends? Kathy is graduating from San Jose State University with her undergraduate degree in Business Administration! Please give her a call and congratulate her on her big day! We will be celebrating at a Peruvian restaurant called Nazca in San Jose around 7pm PT, if you can call then! Kathy's cell is 408.582.2018!

Thanks! - Ed By the way, check out who is in back of us, right in the middle! It is Daniel!

Lindo Peru Orders!

Thanks to our family and friends for helping us launch Lindo Peru.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one shows 'paragraphs and paragraphs' of our collective happiness. Look at all those orders! This photo was taken on Monday, November 24th, we stopped by the post office before going to work at eBay. That weekend we had five orders on Lindo Peru, one order was big enough to use a box!

We are getting ready to make a donation to our chosen charity, it is small donation - but it is a start!

What does this have to do with LBS (little baby sexton)? Well, Lindo Peru is the 'college fund', it is the 'diaper dough', etc. etc. :)

My First Post!

Now I am on the spot! First of all, I wanted to thank to my wonderful husband Ed for creating this baby blog for us. Memories like this are treasure and we will share them with the family and our children forever. I just started my second trimester in my pregnancy. The first one and the most challenging one is over. Thanks Mary Lee for the Saltine Crackers recommendation. I always keep them next to my bed and in the car in case I get nauseous. You really have saved me from many trips to the bathroom.
I already can feel the change in my body. Now my tummy doesn't look like a person after eating lunch, but actually it is starting to have the shape of a pregnant mommy. The food tastes better, and I have more appetite now. However, I can't walk by the kitchen too much since the smell of food is still making me sick, most of the times when the food is being prepared or warmed up. My nails feel stronger than ever. They look long and beautiful and my hair is growing even more!
This is a very exciting moment and stage in my life and indeed the best year in my life so far. 2008 has been a year full of blessings: My marriage with the best man in the world, my upcoming baby, my graduation and our trip to Peru after 8 years and finally bring my husband to my homeland and introduce him to the rest of my family! I can't wait.

Sir! Just What IS inside that Bag?

I see the voting booths have closed on the "What is inside that gigantic bag Ed is holding, and why is he smiling like never before?".

And the results are in:

Baby clothes received the most votes, how intuitive you all are, but the voter did have the opportunity to select more than one item, after all it is a big bag!

The next runner up choice there was a tie between Daniel Mendoza (famed 15 year old piano prodigy and my brother-in-law) and Peruvian crafts. Once again, hats off to your keen powers of association (with crafts, not with Daniel).

Surprisingly, no one chose rice (it does look like a big bag of 'lumpy' rice, but then again I would have to be quite strong and I would not be smiling.) Most unsurprisingly, no one selected Paco Gutierrez nor bottles of Pisco (Peruvian Grappa) - both of whom are quite good friends of mine. Paco is Kathy's 78 year old grandfather and he is as strong as a bottle of Pisco. His favorite past-times include long walks around the neighborhood in search of fruit from the neighbors trees!, and crossword/word search puzzles (the $1.99 Walgreens brand is his favorite).

Side Note: Peruvian Pisco, is the main ingredient of the famed Pisco Sour, served with a healthy froth of raw egg whites, thus explaining its scarcity at your local Chili's or Outback Steakhouse Bar. When in Peru, one must have a Pisco Sour, especially on February 2nd, which is National Pisco Sour Day. Read more about the famed Pisco Sour and its fascinating history.


Enough about Pisco! Let's get to the correct answers! The final and most correct answer of the puzzle is the following triplet (I should be careful using that word on a baby blog!):

1. Baby Clothes
2. Peruvian Crafts
3. Jewelry

Specifically: 45 jewelry sets, 33 handbags, 34 hats, 6 sweaters, and 4 ponchos!

Why is this so important and what does this have to do with the Baby Blog? Well, what you see in the photo represents the very beginning of "Lindo Peru" - which is our business of importing beautiful items from Peru and selling them online and also, later down the road, at famer's markets and shopping center booths.

Kathy and I will be in Peru for 4 weeks over Christmas (12/23 - 1/18), and we will be having so much fun going to the markets and selecting more beautiful items to bring back with us. Of course I will be the invisible gringo, and Orlando and Christian and Ghil I hope can help us make the rounds. Kathy and I will be able to carrying on her mother's tradition of benevolence by helping out the poor kids in Lima, Peru. We plan on redirecting 10% of our proceeds to Peruvian Charities such as Better Peru, Org. Sonia's dream is to establish a children's music school in Lima, and who knows, this could be the seeds which sow that reality.

We have defined our mission statement as:

The mission of ‘Lindo Peru’ is to raise awareness of Peruvian products and inspire the world to purchase high quality, safe, and environmentally conscious products from Peru which will help families in Peru to achieve a higher quality of life.

Lindo Peru will also be the home-based business Kathy and I focus on after the birth. Kathy and I will be able to dedicate efforts on the business, in between the cries and diaper changes. Also, since I am planning on taking the maximum amount of family leave for the birth (12 weeks!), hopefully I will be running to the post office every other day to ship Lindo Peru products!

Our website is live and fully functional! If you could help us spread the word about Lindo Peru to our extended friends and family members we'd appreciate it! Now is the perfect time to pick up a little stocking stuffer, the prices range from $5 to $20 dollars. Have a look, and if you have any suggestions or improvements please let Kathy and I know! I can't wait what shipment #2 is going to look like, hopefully it will be too big to carry! Don't worry, there won't be another gallop poll! I am already having delusions of shipping containers and trans-pacific vessels hauling Peruvian Jewelry, Purses, Chullo Hats, etc. Perhaps we will put Paco in there this time! We miss Paco very much as he is in Peru now after his long stay. I am so glad to have a grandfather once again, well... grandfather-in-law.

Special thanks to Natali and Daniel for helping out with the photo shoot for the website products! Here is a quick picture of the happy faces right before taking the photos for the website:

Signs of Becoming a Daddy

Despite having laser eye surgery a few years ago, a routine check-up to the eye doctor has resulted in the prescription of reading glasses! If these don't make me look like a daddy, I don't know what will. I only wear them while on the computer and the occasional moment when actually picking up a book. But then again, I am reading many pregnancy books.

Here is the new look, like it or not, here comes daddy. Now I can peer over the top of the glasses and practice my disapproving look (I think I learned that from Charlie). I can call my Dad Charlie now, since we're now on 'common ground'. Or maybe not, he'll always be dear (ole) Dad.

"The Business of Being Born", a Movie

Kathy's friend at school recommended to us a very powerful movie called "The Business of Being Born", produced by Ricki Lake.




We're so glad we watched this movie, and feel more informed about what to expect at the hospital. We have so many questions now for our OBGYN, and have decided to write up a birth plan.

What are your thoughts about having a natural birth? We would love your input on this topic! In our collective family, we have relatives who are nurses and work in the hospital industry and we'd love your insight or references to other educational material - so that Kathy and I can make an informed decision.

This movie was a godsend! You can pick it up at Netflix.

Delivery from the Stork?! Guess what's inside...

Since we are at the 12th week marker, we are a bit early for a delivery from the stork, but we received this mysterious package!



This is an exciting time for Kathy and I, and this package only adds to the excitement!

Kathy and I will tell you what is inside on 11/16, but until then, you will have to start guessing! There is a poll to the right in which you can cast your vote.

Entering 12th Week

We visited with Dr. Chandler yesterday for our 2nd OBGYN appointment, everything is going great. The saltine crackers (as recommended by Mary Lee!) are working their magic against nausea.

We had our 2nd ultrasound, and oh my God what changes have occurred! From a little gummy bear sized baby with a beating heart, the baby is now formed, arms and legs were flailing about in the ultrasound video. The baby is active, and we could see the babies hands, silhouette of a face and chin. Kathy and I were so blown away by this experience, it moved us deeply.

Our baby is now around 5 centimeters in size!

Here are the ultrasound photos at 11 weeks 5 days!

Can you see a hint of the Cosgrove jaw? :)

Photo Slideshow Clarification (to the right)

Just to let you know, the babies appearing in the photo slideshow off to the right side of the website are from the Halloween party at Little Stars Daycare, Kathy's family business.

You can see these cute kids here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ed_and_kathy/sets/72157608553473175/


Just wanted to clarify in case you might think we are becoming (more) obsessed with babies!

The Google Baby Fund

Here is the 2nd report on how well Google's Ad Sense program is working. The "Ad Sense" program is contextual advertisement , based on the contents of one's web page. In the case of this baby blog, you might see Ad Sense advertisements for trips to Peru, or information on photo albums, or even full blown graphical ads from Tylenol (my favorite these days now that I am off coffee). When family or friends, or random people searching the Internet coming to the website, visit these ads, Google will charge the advertiser, and then give the baby blog proceeds.

So far, Google has donated this amount to the baby fund: $1.72 !

A few baby photos

For those who might not have seen Kathy and my baby photos, here they are! Maybe this will get the imagination going for what little baby sexton will look like!





Tomorrow begins the 12th week. I decided to give up the coffee, well the caffeinated type. It has been 3-4 days since having a cup of regular coffee, and I've been drinking decaf. I thought I would be lucky to avoid the headaches, but I was wrong! Caffeine intake supplanted by aspirin, what a gambit!

Picaboo: The Best Online Tool for Creating Photo Books

I write this blog entry because I came across our photo album we created for our guest sign-in for our wedding on June 28th. I thought I would share with everybody a link to the website I used to create the photo book, called Picaboo.

During the month's of our wedding preparation, we knew that we wanted our wedding guest book to be customized. We searched for fancy guest books at bridal shops, and they were either $100+ or tacky, or both. We decided to create our own, so the search was on.

On night I came across this website called Picaboo. After stumbling upon this website, about 3 hours vanished immediately while I had so much fun uploading pictures and choosing background image for each page of the book (around 50 pages). I sent the results of what I created to Kathy, and we decided right then and there, that Picaboo was going to be our Wedding Guestbook sign-in.

Here is a a sample of our wedding guestbook. Check it out in case you did not have a chance to view every page during our wedding reception.

Picaboo is amazing. Check it out! Upload your pictures, choose the background graphics, and send a free preview to family & friends. Picaboo has this one template where you can drag and drop about 50 photos on one page, and it looks like a cascade of photos. Very awesome. As you can tell, I am a big fan of Picaboo.

Celebration Party at the Mendozas

Real quick post to say thanks to the Mendozas for throwing a nice ceviche lunch party on Sunday after church! Also thanks for the decorations, especially this highly edited photograph of Kathy & Baby, obviously a visualization technique! I've been wondering ever since Sunday why my name wasn't listed on the photo. :)

Baby Product Reviews

Baby Products

Reviews on various baby products which we have purchased. If you have a suggestion and a comment on a baby product, please reply with a website link of the product and your review!

Where the Wild Things Are: I am remembering this from when I was young, the Sexton family favorite book of all time. I came across this image, and thought of my sister, Mary Lee. Long live Max!



Cotton versus Organic Cotton? I read a few Target baby product reviews and it seems that all the parents are raving about organic cotton products like the Kiddopotamus Swaddle, as being so soft. For some reason I thought it would be more nutritious, but I guess that is a different kind of "organic". Confession: I have no idea what a swaddle is, but it sounds like I better learn how to get my "swaddle on" soon.

Motherhood Maternity Corduroy Khakis. Oh My God, we had so much fun picking out our first pair of maternity pants. We tried on some horrible ones, but these fit perfectly. Kathy is at the stage now, in the 10th week, where a few of her pants will not close! By the way, I picked these out and handed them to Kathy to try on. A winner every time, super shopper daddy.