We’re at the point where doctors can determine the baby’s sex. But Korea has passed this law that says we can’t know the sex of the baby this early. On this week’s check up, a nurse didn’t do the ultrasound. The doctor did. And he was doing his best to be sly and sneaky about it by moving it around quickly and only concentrating on certain body parts rather than the fetus as a whole. I’m posting the ultrasound below. I see three dots on the left around 5:30, and they look like some frank and beans. What do you think? I’m posting a poll and am welcoming any guesses in the comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM9VuNQHjPI

We’ve been preparing for a girl. Well, EJ has because she’s been having dreams that symbolize girls. But it also has been easier for us to prepare for a girl. There are many cool girl names in Korean. But I can’t think of many cool boy names that sound good to English ears. EJ says we should forget using a Korean name. But we’re still debating names anyway. I’m the person who likes clever unique names, but I think with me getting older I want to do something less weird. We’re talking about, if it’s a boy, naming it after my dad and stepdad or variants of their names.

The baby bump is definitely here. EJ has been feeling good lately. She has to make herself eat protein, which I think is the opposite from the average American woman. How could you forget to eat protein with all this meat around you? She has been very upbeat. I think she’s already nesting. The house hasn’t been this clean since the family came. Heh, heh.

Alkongi did get upset last Saturday. EJ felt him jumping around a lot.

As usual, I’ve been extremely busy. My weekends have been packed, and I have had regular lunch meetings for different reasons. I’ve started a great professional relationship with some folks in the U.S. where we may take all this Korean food promotion to a new level. I’ve been very excited about that, and that’s going to take up more of my time in the near future. So I’m trying to trim off the excess that is distracting me so much. Thankfully, the folks at 10 Magazine have been encouraging and have taken the pressure off, where I only have to write one article a month rather than five. And I can assign pieces since I am the dining editor. With the Food Journal, I’ve promoted Shin and Tammy to editor, and they’re going to play a stronger role in developing the site. Its readership has doubled in just the past couple of months. I’m hoping someone can take over Chatjip, as I have no time for it, but it has such great potential in the right hands. And the SeoulPodcast seems to be running smoothly with Jen, Stafford and Karl helping out. We have the big live show next week, and I’m nervous about that.

On the home front, we had been stressed about finding a new house. But last week EJ was able to secure a loan so we could keep it. The key money was being raised from W70 million to W85 million. EJ has been finding out that the real estate agent was likely behind it rather than the owners. She talked to the owners yesterday, and they said he called them to convince them to raise the price after sitting down and talking with us. Freakin’ sleazebag! EJ just shrugged it off.

“He’s a Korean real estate guy. What do you expect?”

I think we’re just happy to have something certain in our lives. I’m still planning to leave CEA at the end of August and go independent. But we are both very motivated and happy right now. I want this to last.