the dryer fix-it man

We have a clothes dryer, for which I am very grateful... they are not very commonly found here, and we bought ours a few years ago from a foreign family headed back to the States. But, the dryer has its limitations. It's always been a little slow - about 90 minutes to dry a small-ish load, which worked out fine, since we have a small washer (at least compared to the giant washers they sell in the US).

Recently, I've noticed that the dryer has gotten REALLY slow, like 3 hours to dry a load. And, ever since the move this past summer, its been pretty noisy (well, actually, it's so noisy it can drown out the sound of Lydia crying). So, we decided to call the dryer fix-it man and have him take a look. We called him Monday afternoon and he said he'd be here Tuesday morning. Right now it's Thursday about 10:30 am and he has yet to show up.

I've been hanging a lot of my clothes to dry (I usually only hang bigger, heavy things). But, the tricky thing about hanging clothes to dry is that if the sun doesn't shine, the clothes don't dry. After two cloudy days, we've got quite a backlog of partially dry clothing. Lydia's bibs and onesies dry pretty quickly. Matt's jeans... not so quick. The sun is starting to peek out from behind the clouds as I type. At this point, the good ole sunshine seems a bit more reliable than my dryer fix-it man. I'll keep you posted...

a better day

Well, today was a tad bit better - Julianna is making some improvement, but not very quickly, so I made an appointment to see the pediatrician tomorrow afternoon. If she is much improved in the morning, I will cancel, but at this point I plan on taking her in to see him. At least her attitude was better today.

We hosted some good friends for dinner and had a lot of fun chatting around the dinner table. I think they even managed to distract Julianna from her own misery and she smiled a few times while they were here. Two of our friends were busy teaching Julianna a song popular with the local kids - sung to the tune of "are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother john". The words are really catchy and she really got into the hand motions.

Lydia is holding strong, happy as can be and growing like a weed. Here she is showing off how she can "stand" in her daddy's lap. Tomorrow is her 3 month birthday!

I'm sick and I'm grumpy

This first photo actually belongs most appropriately to my post from earlier this morning - Julianna sporting her best "I'm sick and grumpy" face. She is feeling a bit better, and we had a few fun moments together late this afternoon.

Thanks to our attempt this past Saturday to get all three of us girls in a photo using the timer, Julianna now thinks setting the camera on timer and running to pose for a photo is a game. Here's one we took together this afternoon. (Lydia is not a big fan of this game, because for her it mostly involves bouncing back and forth from one end on the room to the other in mommy's arms - she chose to sit out this round.)

it's not all grins and giggles

Lest you thought it was all grins and giggles here in apartment 401, let me assure you.... we have our tough days! Julianna is sick... and I am realizing the remarkably strong indirect correlation between her whiny attitude and my extra patience :) I talked to a pediatrician yesterday, and he thinks it is just the common cold, and said treat it with rest and Tylenol. His main concern (and ours) is that Lydia would stay healthy - she slept in the office last night to try to keep her away from Julianna's germs.

Please pray that Julianna would recover quickly, Lydia would stay healthy and I would not quit my job as mommy! This is only the second time Julianna has been sick and I am realizing just how limited my patience is!!

a taste for middle eastern cuisine

I really enjoy hummus and since chic peas are easy to find here, I make it a lot. A few days ago I also made some baba ghanoush... it's a middle eastern dip (similar in texture to hummus) but made with roasted eggplant. There is LOTS of eggplant where we live, so it's always good to have new ways to use it.

Of course, Julianna "helped" me make the baba ghanoush (she especially loves making anything that involves the food processor since it is so noisy and the food swirling around is fun to watch). I served it for lunch, along with the hummus and some pretzel sticks. Julianna ate gobs of both - she would scoop it with the pretzel, take a big bite, and lick the extra off her fingers.

Reminds me of our trip to the middle east (spring 06)... Julianna wasn't eating solid foods at that point, but she apparently picked up a taste for middle eastern cuisine while she was there!

here's one of my favorite photos from the trip - Julianna and me in Istanbul (that's the Blue Mosque in the background)

three girls in a picture

The murder mystery party game last night was LOTS of fun. We didn't use our own camera so we need to get copies of the photos and I will hopefully post them soon - Matt wasn't the murderer after all, but he was acting very suspicious the whole evening!

I left my hair straight for one more day and took this photo with the girls this afternoon. Julianna calls it "mommy's new hair". In case you are wondering, setting up the camera, using the timer and getting all three of us in the right place at the right time was no easy task. But, Julianna and I had lots of fun taking photos and running to see the results on the camera screen while Lydia tolerated all the bouncing back and forth from one side of the room to the other just fine!

Julianna has a case of the sniffles and is a bit under the weather. Hoping she will kick this bug easily and that the rest of the family (especially Lydia) will stay healthy.

Murder at the Four Deuces...

Tonight is the big murder mystery party... the basic idea is that all party participants are assigned a character and part to play, one of the characters is a murderer and the participant who correctly solves the murder wins. There are lots of different parties, we are doing "murder at the four deuces" - a 1920s gangster/speakeasy setting. If you are really interested you can read more about it here: http://www.dinnerandamurder.com/games/4deuces.htm

My character is Donna Wannabe, I am the little sister to Don (played by Andy). Don and his wife MeMe (Erin Ashley) are opening a new speakeasy. Matt is Brett Bumbler (a gambler). According to my character background info, I am supposed to flirt with Matt all night long! He thinks it's going to be a great evening :) I think he might be the murderer!!! (just kidding, I really don't have a clue who the murderer is!)

This morning I went to a local hair salon and had them use a flat iron to straighten my hair and then use a curling iron to flip out the ends. Unfortunately, Matt has the camera with him this afternoon, so I can't post a pre-party photo of my hair-do. Matt was home briefly at lunch and I asked him if he liked my hair. He said, "not really". But then quickly added that it's perfect for tonight's party, he just prefers the curls. At least he is honest.

Tomorrow's post will hopefully include lots of photos!

Let's pretend

The world of pretend grows bigger every day here at our apartment in East Asia... Last night while I was putting Lydia in bed Julianna was busy as well - putting her own little baby to bed. She was so proud to show me her baby sleeping on mommy and daddy's big bed, buried under a pile of blankets with a picture book next to her head.

Julianna's baby also frequently naps in this little cradle that we got from our friends, Ruthie and Mary Van Montague.

And, of course, every baby needs to eat a little lunch.


I've been having fun helping Erin Ashley get ready to host a murder mystery party - it's tomorrow night and 15 of our friends are coming. The setting is a 1920s speakeasy and we are all dressing up to look the part. I got a great dress and boa and fishnet tights from a local wholesale market. Don't worry, we'll take plenty of pictures.

Time is short this morning, Lydia is napping and Julianna is entertaining herself in the office while I type - she's got a pen, a pencil, two pieces of scotch tape and a sheet of computer paper.... but with her short attention span my time is quickly running out.

apartment photos

Here are the long-promised apartment photos - I took these last night after the girls were in bed. We continue to recognize how perfect this place really is for our family... months of praying for this home and God provided exactly what we need. We have a wonderful open family room/dining area/kitchen. And three nice-sized bedrooms - one is Matt's office, the second belongs to the girls and we occupy the third! We've got a futon in the office and would love to host any of you if you're ever in the area :)

Views from the two "ends" of the dining/living area. (our front door is on the far right of this photo)





Here you can see the kitchen from the dining area...


another kitchen photo (try to ignore the dishes drying in the dish rack - I had just finished cleaning up after dinner!)



Here's our bedroom

It's perfect for our family!

Lydia smile at you

Julianna's language ability continues to develop rapidly, but she still confuses pronouns, and often uses them incorrectly. The most common mistake is switching "me" and "you". So, when she says, "mommy help you" what she means is "mommy help me", likewise "hold you" means "hold me".
My favorite is when she gets right in Lydia's face and says "Lydia smile at you" .... what she means is "Lydia smile at me". She learned this from me, because I frequently point out that Lydia is smiling at her. Lydia is more interactive every day, and Julianna continues to delight in her little sister.

I love Mondays...

Matt is taking Mondays off this semester and I am loving it! He went on a bike ride this morning while I went grocery shopping at Jia Le Fu (a big, Wal-mart type store in town). Xiao Li was here to watch Julianna and Lydia slept. It is SO NICE to shop on my own, without the kids. I usually try to go to Jia Le Fu about once a month or so.... I buy a lot while I am there, but it's not a terrific shopping experience, so I prefer to avoid it.

We got some big chores done around the house and Matt managed to repair the lamp that was broken during the big party last week. Julianna and I took a quick trip to the market this afternoon - she is really getting in to singing and knows quite a few songs so we sing as we stroll around town. It helps that no one within hearing distance speaks English or knows what the songs are supposed to sound like, so they don't know how bad we really are!

Here's Lydia sitting in Julianna's little armchair. It's still a little big for her, but she's growing fast!

Sunday evening

Went to fellowship this morning and then to a birthday party for 1-year old Aria (daughter of our friends Ginny and Sloan). Julianna slept through most of the party, so she missed the pinata but Matt snagged some candy for her. She was mostly excited about the cupcake that we brought home for dessert, but when the time came to eat it, she just licked off the icing and smashed the cake into her high chair tray. (Matt and I rescued part of the cake and ate it ourselves!)

The two girls are back in the same room for night number two (as sisters that are 20 months apart in age, I figure this is the beginning of a very long roommate relationship). Lydia is having some incredible nights, and both girls woke up happy about 7:45 this morning. Julianna looked over at Lydia and said, "hi Lydia! Hey. Hey Lydia." Lydia grinned.

roommates

Julianna and Lydia are roommates for the first time tonight - moved Lydia into Julianna's old pack n play for her morning nap and she is there for tonight too (Lydia took no decent afternoon nap, but that's another story and involves recounting lots of crying, so we'll avoid that topic for now.)

Anyways, last weekend when I was in Thailand with Lydia Matt hosted a "small get-together" attended by 50 students... now, our apartment was NEVER intended to host 50 students, but the only casualty was a broken lamp. Not bad. Julianna was awake when the party started, Matt put her in bed and she slept through the WHOLE THING! So, I conclude, she is not an easily disturbed sleeper and will hopefully adjust quickly to little sis in the same room.

In terms of Julianna being upset by sharing her things with Lydia .... she is still so obsessed with her graduation to a big girl bed that I am not sure she has even noticed Lydia inhabiting her old one.

Today's photo: Julianna "helping" Lydia with her paci.

a package from ND, Xiao Li arrives, and more...

When I first started this blog I thought I might not have stuff to write about every day.... I mean, I am a stay-at-home mom with two kids under two. Some days I don't even get out the front door - what could I have to write about? So, one fun thing about the blog is it helps me realize that important, fascinating things happen every day (at least in the eyes of my little girls). Thanks to you who read it and "enter in" to life with me :)

Xiao Li arrived this morning for her first day at our new apartment! She'll be here on M/W/F mornings and T/Th afternoons. What a sweet blessing she is - Julianna knew her right away (she was with us for our first three years here and had always been a part of Julianna's life... until we moved to our new apartment - so Julianna had not seen her since late June). I am so thankful for Xiao Li as a sweet friend and also tremendous help to me as a mom. Hoping that with her arrival I'll advance from "barely keeping my head above water" to some real "swimming" as I figure out how to do life here in China with two little ones!!!


Later in the morning a package from ND arrived! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the fun goodies - Julianna watched her new movie tonight after dinner :)


Around lunchtime I headed in to town for a haircut and to say goodbye to my friend Anita. My hair is pretty short - I was inspired by my cousin Julie (who got her hair cut short this summer) and by my sweet Lydia (who is a spit up queen...I was tired of finding clumps of baby spit up in my long hair - gross!).

Julianna and I also did a little baking this afternoon - don't worry, I don't really let her take things out of the oven, but she does enjoy wearing the oven mitt!

we're home

Well, we're back home again. The retreat was a lot of fun! I'll just post a photo or two for now and write more later. Yesterday was a long day and I have a busy one coming up here, so I don't have much time this morning.


The main attraction at the resort was a hot springs-fed pool. We all had fun swimming. Julianna took a tumble walking to breakfast the first day - check out her face!!



The weather keeps changing - on Tuesday it was jeans and short sleeves but by Thursday evening we were all bundled up again.


Julianna feeding the fish some popcorn (there were several ponds on the property).