spent the weekend in chicago where both of my brothers have been living for the past two years. namgi was graduating from kellogg so we were there to celebrate with him and to see wonki and eunice’s new home there. it was a whirlwind visit but so enjoyable. i hadn’t realized how long it’s been since we were all together as one big family. i guess since luke and i got married last august.

neither of my brothers had seen me pregnant, so it was fun to share with them the whole belly thing. namgi’s first words to me were, You look funny!

wonki touched my belly a lot. huckleberry wasn’t his or her (i’m hedging my bets more and more on his/her sex as we get closer!) usual active self for some reason, i think it may have been the irregularity of our meals and the traveling and i was also a bit dehydrated. anyway, i managed to let wonki feel a slight kick, but nothing like the soccer kicks huckleberry usually does. huckleberry was shy, i guess!

i showed them my incredible shrinking belly button. no photos can do my belly button justice, you just have to imagine what it must look like when a belly button starts to constrict and you can barely see an indentation anymore. it’s possible i’ll have an outie soon!

leaving chicago was bittersweet. the next time we see wonki and eunice the baby will be born already, so they won’t see the whole evolution of the pregnancy. i guess it’s a necessary side effect of progress, that we are mobile people who come from far away places and meet and settle down somewhere far from our loved ones, but i’ve never felt the negative aspects of that as keenly as i do now.

but i should count my blessings. we’re all healthy and able to afford travel to visit each other. and namgi and youkyung are moving to new jersey this week in fact, so we’ll be close enough to see each other as often as we can motivate ourselves to commute.

anyway, this isn’t the most eloquent entry, i’m tired and need to sleep. but i just wanted to document how i’m still feeling really happy after spending the weekend with the whole family unit, mom and dad, brothers and sisters-in-law, all in one place and everyone doing really well.