one rough start

I now know what it will take for me to neglect the blog for a week. One really sick little daughter. (Not to mention 9 months pregnant, living in a new city, in a new apartment with no husband available!)

Turns out whatever little throwing up bug Lydia had on Saturday/Monday was contagious. She shared it with her big sister. Who didn't fight it nearly successfully as Lydia did, and ended up in the ER on Thursday night. At that point I would have begged the ER doc for an iv to get some fluids back into my little Julianna, but I didn't have to..... he took one look at her and ordered it almost immediately. Some anti-vomiting meds calmed her stomach and she hasn't thrown up in over 24 hours (a HUGE improvement.... the night we left for the hospital she was throwing up every 20-45 minutes, even two teaspoons of water came right back up again.)

Matt was on a flight back here the next morning, and arrived about 2:30 Friday afternoon. I am not sure I have ever been so glad to see him! I desperately need rest and relief! Matt is providing an opportunity for me to have both :)

In the midst of a very difficult stretch of time, there is much to be thankful for. We are not at home, but we are in one of the best cities in the country for medical care! The care we received on Thursday night was far superior to what we would have gotten if we had been at home. The house helper who normally works at this apartment has been helping us, and she has helped tremendously with all the mopping and laundry and throw up clean up! We have friends nearby, one of whom came over at 2am to stay here with a sleeping Lydia, and another who went with me to the hospital!

And, mostly, Matt is home! I slept almost 10 hours last night, which is probably about the equivalent of my total sleep from the previous three nights!! That night of sleep alone put a whole new perspective on my day.

Speaking of sleep, I'm on my way to a bit of rest right now - it's that quiet time of the afternoon and I will not be able to keep my eyes open today :)

settling in

We are definitely feeling settled in to our new-temporary home. The apartment we are borrowing is just PERFECT for our family and we are so grateful for a wonderful place to live. I'm already getting spoiled by some aspects of our new environment :)

The girls spent most of our first day enjoying an apartment full of 'new to them' toys and books :)


Later in the day we all headed outside for a little fun -


The snow on the ground was a BIG change for us! The day before we left home Matt took the family on a picnic lunch and it looked like this:


The high temp here is 30 degrees LOWER than the daytime high at home. It's actually supposed to warm up some this week, and I bet the snow will all be gone soon. But we're enjoying a change of pace. And I'm actually hoping for some more snow.

And a quick little Lydia update.... she seemed to be much better on Sunday (her first throw up episode on our big travel day was about 5:45 am, before we ever left for the airport, so I am pretty sure it was not motion sickness, or that motion sickness was only part of the problem). But, this morning, she threw up again. No one else in the family has any other symptoms at all (thank goodness!) but I'm wondering if maybe she has a little virus or bug of some sort. Any guesses as to what her problem might be? Or what I can do to prevent any more throwing up?

Matt left for the airport a few hours ago so it's me, the girls and the baby-in-the-belly for the next week. I'm thankful for friends who live close by and that our apartment set-up is so amazing. Did I mention that I live a 5 minute walk from a store that sells both peanut butter and cheese? Or that our building has an elevator which revolutionizes my perspective on a trip outside our apartment doors? More on all the perks of living here in another post coming soon :)

How was the trip?

How was the trip?

Here's the short version: Lydia threw up four times - the biggest and most damaging happened as our wheels touched down in our new city. What a welcome! But it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Seriously. I mean, really, it was still a lot easier than many of the long journeys we've taken, throw up and all.

Oh, and you'll be glad to know she values fairness - two weeks ago today she threw up all over her daddy. Today? It was ME!

Yes, I had spare clothing for all of us. And, Yes, I stripped her down to just her diaper as we sat on the runway moments after landing. And, Yes, the flight attendant had just announced the ground temperature was 34 degrees. And, for those of you familiar with the local population and their love of an overly-bundled-up baby, Yes, they panicked when they saw my naked 18month old sitting in the seat next to me. Lydia? She was loving it. Must have felt so good after throwing up that she chattered and sang and grinned and went ahead and took her socks off for good measure.

So, it wasn't our smoothest ever travel day. But I've had much longer. And much worse. And now we're here - the girls are napping, Matt is outside exploring our surroundings and I am blogging :) The apartment is GREAT! It's going to be a perfect temporary home. I mostly unpacked, and we got the ipod plugged in so I'm listening to a little Alison Krauss as I chronicle our journey. This blog is part scrap book, part family journal, part fun hobby because I love to write. I write it for me. And for the day our children will grow up and hopefully read it. But I'm glad you can enjoy it too.

So, I'll end with a funny perspective from the day: On the airplane at one point Lydia is sitting on my lap, facing me, and starts pointing to my belly and saying, "open belly open baby". What she wants to do is lift up my shirt and see the huge belly. Which I am fine with at home. Not so fine with in the economy section of a big 'ole airplane with not one single empty seat. So I say, "sorry honey, not right now".

And Julianna looks at her little sister, dead serious, and says, "Lydia we can't open it and get the baby out til we get to our new city". About two hours later, we're outside the door to our new-temporary home and Julianna looks up at me and says, "Are we here yet? Now can we get the baby out?"

Uh-oh. Seems we've got a bit of confusion here. There is still a LOT more waiting to be done, sweet daughter. Even though we've made the big move, the baby won't arrive for a while. Wonder if she's going to be as impatient these last few weeks as I will be :)

headed north

I've set this to post right as we should be boarding our airplane - it's only a 3 hour flight and if all goes smoothly, we'll be in our new 'home' early afternoon. That's easy travel!! My first two days there are full.... I've got to take advantage of having Matt around as I settle our family into our new home!

So, I am not sure when I'll post again. But I'll hopefully be able to get to internet access sooner rather than later. We're in for some big changes weather-wise. Today the high was 75 degrees here. Our new home? It's snowed for the past three days!

just let some things go, ok?

Several times this week Matt has said, "honey, please don't try to be superwoman..... just let some things go, ok?"

Do you think this is what he had in mind??


This is what our kitchen looked like last night. And what it looked like again this morning. So out of character for me! I hate leaving a mess overnight. A stray sippy cup or random dessert plate in the sink, that I can handle. But I really dislike clutter, so a wiped-down counter top, swept kitchen floor, and straightened living room is way more my style.

This is what I did do yesterday (since I clearly did NOT do the dishes!)


I packed! Even though this is now the third time I have moved to another city to wait for a baby's arrival, it is still really weird to pack for someone who technically isn't here - yet. Receiving blankets, newborn sleepers, the cutest little blue and white striped hat. Right in there next to the girls winter gear and some new coloring books. Weird.

Well, here I am 'just letting some things go' while I update the blog. Priorities!

time to reschedule

Well, one proof that life is a little full right now: Matt and I had to 'reschedule' Valentine's Day! We're also 'rescheduling' his birthday - and if I had my way, I'd 'reschedule' this baby to arrive a week before his due date too, but that's not really my decision :)

The whole family flies north on Saturday morning - which means I have three days left in our apartment .... then off to have the baby.... and the next time I am here I'll have a baby boy in my arms. Needless to say, that's a lot to think about. We'll be up north together for two and half days, then Matt leaves to fly back to our hometown for a week, leaving the girls and me to enjoy some good, quality, 'just the three of us ladies' time!

So, in light of all the stuff going on, we've been 'tweaking' the schedule a little bit - and plan to enjoy a Valentine's date tomorrow (the 19th) and move Matt's birthday from the 28th to March 4th, so we'll all be together as a family for the cupcake eating :)

This morning I plan to start packing in earnest. It's Julianna's last day at preschool for a while, which means Lydia is the only threat to my packing piles - you'd be amazed at how quickly those two little girls can rearrange things as I pull them out of drawers and toss them towards the suitcases.

She's finishing up breakfast in the highchair right now and is preoccupied 'cleaning' the tray with a wet washcloth. It's entirely unclear if anything is actually getting cleaner, but she's sure enjoying herself. Well, gotta run.... lots to do today!

35 weeks and counting...

We spent the afternoon outside, soaking in the sunshine and loving the warm weather. Only 5 more days til we leave for the city up north, and our beautiful (but unseasonable) spring-like temps will be a distant memory, so we've got to enjoy it while we can!

Something about a little girl wearing a Sunday dress and sitting in the grass makes me run for the camera.





Matt also took a few photos of my growing baby boy - and I just love this shot of Lydia checking out her little 'brother in the belly'.

He's getting BIG! And loves to throw his weight around, but I'm not nearly as uncomfortable as I was with Lydia - that girl could really move :) So, as I head into the home stretch of this pregnancy, I'm feeling pretty good but also getting eager to meet this little guy! We all are :)

The Nobel Patience Prize

Without taking away in the slightest from the life-changing contributions previous Nobel Peace Prize winners have made to society, I would like to propose that perhaps a Nobel Patience Prize would be a bit more suited to my current lifestyle. Full days in a science lab, I do not have. Full days with young children... Yep, I definitely log in some of those!

This morning Lydia "helped" me make a batch of granola. It looked like this:

That, friends, is a patience building exercise!

And, to fully appreciate this second photo, you need to know that while she goes about her work of sweeping (aka spreading small particles of trash around the house) she chants to herself in a sing-song voice "Helping. Helping mommy. Helping. Helping."


She's two days away from her 18 month birthday. And in the space of about 15 minutes can steal most of your heart, and your patience :) Oh how I love this little girl!

Speed. It's relative.

One thing I have learned about life with little children - it's going to be slow. Children just don't move quickly. Of course, there are times I am amazed at how quickly they can do some things, like empty an entire load of just folded laundry from the laundry basket, or cover every square inch of the living room carpet with toys. But, generally speaking, I wouldn't describe my girls as 'speedy'.

This is an especially big reality for me because we walk almost everywhere we go. It's me and the girls out on the town, and our main mode of transport is the stroller. As I like to say, we don't sneak up on people!

A few days ago the zipper to Julianna's jacket broke as we were heading outside to run some errands. I put all my domestic skills to work and immediately declared "no problem honey, we'll drop it off at the tailor's and she can fix it for you". I do not own a sewing machine and would not know how to use one even if I did.... unlike some of my more talented friends! One problem with my lack of sewing skills is no motivation - we have lots of local tailors, who will make or fix just about anything, for very low prices.

So, Julianna wears her unzipped jacket and we head out to the local 'grocery' store, which is actually more like a glorified convenience mart. The girls LOVE to shop there - and it is a riot to watch assuming you have the patience to spend a half hour following them around the shelves. Under my careful guidance, after about 30 minutes of shopping, they each ended up with a bag of banana chips. We also dropped Julianna's jacket at the tailor, and she promised to have it ready the following day, for the bargain basement price of 1 usd (which included her labor and the replacement zipper - now do you see why I haven't learned how to sew??) The entire outing took the better part of our morning.

Today I decided it was time to return to the tailor and get that jacket. On my own, with no little girls in tow, I can make it from our apartment door to the tailor and back in under 20 minutes. Today, 20 minutes after the girls and I left our apartment door, we were just leaving the main gate of our apartment complex. We did finally make it all the way to the tailor's, but she wasn't even open - after all that walking and stopping and picking up leaves and asking questions and .... well, whatever it is that the two girls are doing when they aren't putting one foot in front of the other in a quick and orderly fashion.

One hour and 15 minutes after we left the apartment, we were finally back at the entrance to our stairwell. And we didn't even have the jacket! But we had a lot of fun :) Maybe we'll try again tomorrow!

5 in a tub??

Our friends left this morning :( We had such fun while they were here, and ended our final evening together with a girl group bath. After a very brief discussion we parents ended in an unanimous decision that all 5 girls were NOT going to fit in the same tub. So, the two dads teamed up and bathed the little girls first....



and then the big girls!


So, we set our sights on the friends waiting for us in Beijing! A change of plans means that we now leave home on February 21st - that's less than two weeks away! Yikes - I have a lot of packing and planning to do between now and then.

In the meantime the girls and I are determined to enjoy our last days at home, just the three of us ladies playing-away the daytime hours. Both of them change so quickly, I know by the time we get back from Beijing with their little brother, they will be really different.

Lydia's newest and biggest accomplishment is her attempt to say "Julianna" instead of the abbreviated "Nana" she's used since she was about 11 months old. It sounds like "U - Li - Anna" and it is just precious to hear. She is so proud of herself and calls for her sister a thousand times a day, just to show off her new skill!

And today's sign that Julianna is growing up way too fast? This morning at breakfast she told me that she was already "three and a half". I clarified that the 8 weeks that have passed since her 3rd birthday hardly qualify her for "three and a half" status. But seriously, where did she get that from? I didn't even know she knew of the "____ and a half" concept!

spaghetti faces

We are friends with a local couple who have three precious little girls ..... yes, they are one of the rare families that have more than one child!! Their first was born 11 days before Julianna and their second pregnancy God blessed them with twins who arrived 6 weeks before Lydia. In other words, their family almost exactly mirrors ours, except, of course, they have "two Lydias". Their mother is a busy lady :)

Tonight they joined us for dinner and halfway through the meal I ran for the camera. Who could resist photographing these five spaghetti covered faces???



I like to imagine this little twin was closing her eyes to protect her identity... who wants to be recognized with a face this dirty??


You're right... Matt and I are proud to be parents of this little face, a sure ringer for "absolute messiest"!!


The big sister - she loved spaghetti!




What fun we had! They are in town for a few more days, and we are having lots of fun together :) Julianna got teary-eyed when they went home tonight. I explained that we were going to play together again tomorrow and she wanted to know exactly how many more hours they would stay in our neighborhood!

we love a playground!

I snapped these photos on our last morning at the conference. We LOVED having such a nice playground to enjoy this week! Oh, how I wish we had a playground near our apartment :) Or even semi-near our apartment :)






And, since I haven't been telling many stories this past week, and since we're all good friends here, I thought you might enjoy this:

The conference hotel was only a 30 minute drive... which, by the way, is possibly the shortest "travel" we've ever done. On the way home we stopped at a brand new McDonald's for lunch.

In the States I only eat McDonald's chocolate cones, but in China, well... I don't like to confess how often we eat McDonald's. Probably once a month. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would one day visit McDonald's on a monthly basis I would have NEVER believed you. But in China, it's actually one of the better family restaurant options. For one, it provides high chairs. And it's impossible to break the bowls and other serving dishes. And, the icing on the cake.... in the past few months they have started selling Diet Coke!!!! We were hoping that this new McDonald's would also have a playground, but were once again disappointed :)

So, we enjoy our cheeseburgers and sundaes, hop back in the car and head home. Roads here are bumpy. And traffic is bad, which makes for a not-so-smooth ride. Stop. Go. Lurch. Turn. Stop. Go. Stop. All the way home. Apparently it didn't blend too well with Lydia's full belly, because as we pulled to a stop in front of our apartment stairwell she threw up all over herself and Matt (thank goodness she was in his lap, not mine!). Julianna took one look at Lydia, and in a loving, sympathetic, big-sisterly way, joined her. More throw up. Terrific.

I helped Julianna out of the car and walked around to the other side to wrap throw-up covered Lydia in her blanket and pick her up off Matt's lap. I sat Lydia on the ground and undressed a panicky Julianna. She trudged up the stairs in only her panties and the pink and brown cowboy boots she wears every single day. I cannot imagine what the neighbors think. Probably something along the lines of "what are those crazy foreigners going to do next?"

Matt unloaded the luggage onto the sidewalk, picked up Lydia and we began the journey to the fourth floor. 30 minutes later the girls were clean and cuddled in bath towels, just in time for afternoon naps :) Matt and I agreed that we're thankful baby #3 is safe in my belly and couldn't join in the throw up extravaganza.

It wasn't our smoothest return home, but considering the throw up event could have happened at an airport, I'm thankful! The threat of this kind of event happening on an all-day-airplane-journey-travel-day is what makes my carry on luggage so heavy!

bedtime at the Spring Hot Springs

It's 8pm at the Spring Hot Springs hotel and the girls are snug in their beds. Tonight is our last night, and while I will be glad to get home and back into "normal" life mode, I am also a bit reluctant to leave... we've had a great time! Matt had a slower day today, which was a lot of fun for me, since I got to go to lunch with a bunch of moms :)

I typically use our camera more frequently than I have been at the hotel.... but here are a few from the past couple of days.

Spring Hot Springs

One of the fun things about learning a second language is realizing how many of our English words have multiple, often unrelated, meanings. (I imagine this is true in all languages??)

For example, I just entered the English word "order" into an online Chinese-English dictionary and got 12 possible results for the equivalent word in Chinese. Which makes sense when you think of how many different ways we use the word "order".

"I'd like to place an order"
or
"Now that's an order"
or
"Please arrange these names in alphabetical order"
or
"Order in the court"

So all that brings me back to the title of this post, which happens to be the name of our hotel: "Spring Hot Springs". The first spring being the season of spring, the second meaning water coming out of the ground. The hotel name sounds beautiful in Chinese, but awkward in English.

Regardless of the awkward translation of the name, it's a beautiful hotel, and we're enjoying the spring-like weather and the hot springs-fed pools.


The mornings and evenings are still quite chilly (today's low temp was 37 degrees) but the mid-afternoon high is probably close to 65 degrees - which is definitely warm enough for swimming when the pools are toasty .... it's kind of like swimming in a big bathtub.

As usual, I've tried my best to set up a little "home on the road" atmosphere in our hotel room (which is actually more like a villa or something - we have two bedrooms and a living area). Check out Julianna's artwork hanging by the door!

If I hear one more firecracker...

I'm moving to Australia!

No, of course not. But I have fantasized along these lines....."what would it be like to wake up and not hear firecrackers anymore?" or "what if I didn't have to pause my conversations every time someone decided they wanted to 'celebrate' with one more string of firecrackers and a cigarette lighter."

Only one more week until the New Year celebration is officially over. I'll be ready to do some celebrating of my own when the last firecracker has been lit. This morning is especially loud, and I'm struggling with a little cultural stress, can you tell?!?!?

But, there is some hope on the horizon. We leave for a week long meeting/conference this afternoon (and the travel to get there doesn't even involve airplanes!) The hotel is in a less-densely populated area, so I have hopes that fewer people = fewer firecrackers. We'll see!

Not at all sure what kind of internet access I will have at the hotel, but I'll try to post again soon with some photos and tales of hotel life :)