Two months before the due day, we took a trip to Colorado, the beautiful place where you can easily find peace and love in the completely natural world. On the top of the Rocky Mountain national park, we felt so close to the sky but still so down to the earth. Both Jessie and I have lived around NYC for about 10 years, and every time we travelled, we went to another crowded place like Vegas or Paris. Even Grand Canyon and Yellow stone were so FULL of people and commercial activities. Colorado is different, in the way that you do not get to have many things to do except being there. :-) It was still very fun to be there though, at least watching the little chipmunks eating sunflower seeds in your hands and playing on your arms was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Check out the photos (Link ) 

Tom's Chinese name, Tongtong, means an angel living above the cloud, the one that delivers God's message to the people in the world. Cloudian was coined by Alex to represent that meaning. Palace de Cloudian, therefore, is where Tom lives. :-)

Nie(聶): Three ears - a good listener, therefore a good thinker.

Zi(子): Like in Confucious ("Kong Zi"), a respected person.

Tong(潼):  Cloud starting to form in the high sky where angels gather and sing, thus "Cloudian" meaning the angel above the cloud.

Hopefully Tom will be like Xin Qi-Ji.

Xin Qi-Ji was a famous general, poet, and patriot during the Song dynasty of China. The Chinese version of this article explains the relationship between Tom's Chinese name and General Xin's life and writtings, and why Alex hopes that Tom will be like him :-)

Last night, I was watching an old movie "Big Daddy". It was a funny movie in which Julian learned from his fake daddy to pee to the building, to cover garbage with newspapers and to do all sorts of other nasty things. It did not look real that when Sonny decided to be a responsible daddy and to make Julian a good kid, then suddenly everything changed. Albeit its unreasonableness, the movie was still touching and educational, at least it was right to convey that you should behave yourself in front of your kids. At the end of the movie, Sonny testified in the court that he fell in love with the kid. I guess it is NOT a question whether I will fall in love with my own child, but I wanted to ask whether my love to him/her will make me a really good daddy? Love makes me excited, and it also makes me very nervous.

Tom's 20 weeks from birth.

Jessie threw up almost every night since the 8^th week. My mom told me that I also made her very sick even after I was born. If that was why I became a good man, then it might be worthy of suffering so much. Some moms do not feel a thing until 5 months of pregnancy when the waistline starts to thicken dramatically. But well, no pains, no gains. I'd rather believe that the unbearable sickness will eventually pay off, and our little Allison or Thomas will be a healthy, happy, and smart cutie.

第12周的时候，我们去圣彼得医院做第一孕期检查。在超声波的屏幕上，我们的小宝宝就像一个体操运动员，一会儿挺 胸，一会儿挥拳，一会儿翘着二郎腿。左一下，右一下，从来就不停。 ;) 亏得那护士小姐耐心，转来转去测量一些数据。也许是他们的超声波放大倍数高，或者是宝宝自己长得快，比起上次，他长大了好多，我们可以清清楚楚看到他的腿 脚甚至是鼻子。太逗了。

At three months of pregnancy, your baby is about 2 inches long. His fingers and toes have separated and he has begun swallowing and kicking. The basic structures of all his organs are in place and beginning to function.

I did not want to spend much time thinking of a boy's name. Then I realized that this might make our dear son upset if he gets to know that I did not really want him, It seemed easier to name a baby boy, but when the time really came, nothing was easy then.