painting (and one reason i love to blog)

This afternoon we painted. 

And I took photos.

I am 99% sure I would not have photographed this simple little event if I didn't blog. 

 I'm also 99% sure that Isaac's favorite color is blue :) 

And I'm positive that years from now (maybe even next year) I'll be grateful that I did.  Grateful that I blogged.  Grateful that I picked up the camera.  Grateful that I painted.

dance class

Our girls have been begging to take dance for, oh... years.

Problem is, dance class here is not dance class in America.  I wish there was a nicer way to say it (and please do know that there are many things I love about this culture), but simply put, this is not an easy place to be a kid.  Years of the one child policy plus relative economic prosperity plus God-less perspectives on family and child-raising have resulted in a culture that sees children as a commodity.  I am convinced that most parents (unwittingly) are more concerned with what their child will do for them than what they will do for their child.

Needless to say, it adds up to a lot of stress on the children, and a goal- and results- driven perspective on most everything related to childhood.  Long hours of school, unbelievable numbers of out-of-school tutoring and extracurriculars for even the youngest little ones.

The market for "pre-natal education" (ie teaching your child something while they are yet in the womb) is booming.  I can't tell you how much my kids learned in the womb, though I am absolutely sure that Isaac knew exactly who Julianna and Lydia were the moment he was born.... just the way he responded to their voices made it clear those little girlies were old friends.  But still, recognizing the big sisters' voices is a far cry from intentional "in the womb" early intervention meant to guarantee baby will be a genius :) 

All that to say, Matt and I have been very hesitant to put the girls in dance class, since the purpose of most classes seems to be the creation of well-trained prima ballerinas with no thought to enjoyment or fun in the classroom.  All our girls want is a chance to spin and twirl and have heaps of fun in the name of 'dance class'. 

Imagine our delight when the perfect opportunity presented itself - an evening class at their preschool, open only to enrolled students (guaranteed class size would be small and teachers were coming from within the school).  I inquired specifically about the nature of the classes, and told them we were interested in FUN, with a smidge of dance thrown in for good measure.  It seemed to be a great fit. 

Last Thursday night was their first class - I knew the FUN requirement was met when Lydia hopped out of the car after last week's class.  "Mommy, I'm a dancer!" she called out when she saw me.  As uncoordinated and large-motor skills challenged as my sweet second born is, I figured dance class had the potential to be most difficult for her.  When she declared her new "dancer" status I was convinced the class was a success!

Julianna too, was delighted.  [The girls are together for warm ups then break up into two different classes to work on their dancing :) ]  They've showed off their new moves every day since then, and can't wait to go back this week.  When Matt is in town and available he hopes to take them to their class (6 to 7 pm) and give me a little mid week break!  Isaac tagged along last week and it went okay.  There is a playground in the school yard, and while it stays light enough he'll be able to play outside.

Of course, he is the only little sibling out there :(  So my girls are the only ones with a built in little-brother fan club.  Which is a whole lot more valuable than pre-natal education any day of the week, at least in my book!!

another saturday

It's no secret that Saturday is not my favorite.  End of a week.  And, in this case, the end of a very long month for Matt, and a veeeerrrry long first trimester for me.  While I definitely have more and more good days, and while my current 'bad day' is a cake walk compared to mid August, I feel yuck more than I'd like.  I'm mostly off anti-nausea meds, but still end up taking them more than I wish I did :(

So I was already prepared to just trudge through the day.  Loaded up the kids and headed to the market, since I just figured out last night what I need to be bringing to a pot luck tomorrow.  Lucky me, it's lots of veggies, which means lots of washing and chopping (picture veggies straight off the farmer's truck and you won't be surprised when I tell you the bottom of my sink has MUD in it when I'm done!)

Saturday morning......  It's basically standing room only at the market :)  I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.  We got our veggies and got out of there!  By the time we got home I had chalked the day up as survival.  just get through it.  Wash the piles of dishes in the sink so I can get to the veggie washing..  Serve and clean up lunch.  Get kids down for rest.  Make dips (for veggies).  Cook, serve and clean up supper. GO TO SLEEP!!! 

As if to ice the cake, the phone rang - it was the repair man for our hot water heater.  I asked him when he was coming and he asked me how serious the problem was.  "Well, kind sir, every time I turn on the hot water the gas smell is so strong I have to leave the room.  With three young children in the house I've decided to take the cautious route and turn off the gas supply to the entire house.  No hot water, no hot shower, no using the stove top.  In my book, I'd say this is a problem.  When are you coming?"  [Perhaps I should have preempted my little speech with a hint that today was not the best I've had!]

Needless to say, he decided he'd come :)  [and he did, and the problem is fixed.  yay!]

But it seems the Lord just would not let me moan and groan through my day.  So graciously, He turned my attitude, and changed the course of a day.  As I unloaded veggies He reminded me that today is a birthday party for a far-off friend's three year old son.  That simple thought put a smile on my face.  Praise the Lord for life!  While I washed the first set of dishes I listened to laughter in the courtyard, the kids dancing in the gorgeous fall sunshine - playing with balloons that we blew up and tied to lengths of yarn earlier this morning.  Later Isaac joined me at the sink and we washed cherry tomatoes. 

I turned on some music (my current obsession is listening to worship song recordings from our brother and sister-in-law, Andy and Kristi.  My kids are addicted, and so am I!)

And then the girls came prancing out of my bedroom.  I've been sorting clothes (summer to winter with the added complication of pulling out maternity duds) and the window seat in my bedroom was piled with clothes.  The girls found it, and started a little fashion show.

I decided to just enjoy it, and tried not to think about all my (previously nicely folded) piles of clothes :) 

The veggies are washed and dried and waiting for my knife.  Matt and Dad will be here by 5:30 for supper.  Isaac sleeping, girls reading on their beds, and me?  Why, I'm having a really good day! 

down to the river

So the street to our complex dead ends at a river.  In a country with 1.3 billion people (give or take) and in a city with 13 million (or so), life on a dead end street is pretty much glorious.  GLORIOUS!

I haven't been down to the river in weeks, and honestly, there are days that it smells, and you can't get that close, and it's a tad less picturesque that many other rivers.... but Sunday afternoon I was reminded again: stinky or not, a river is a river, and I am so grateful to have it for a neighbor.

Our road dead ends at a river walk that overlooks the river and gives a pretty sweet view across the way.  The other side is mostly undeveloped, at least along this little section.

The "farmers" are hardly peasants :) Matt and I are both convinced they are our neighbors - basically squatting on available land!  Most of our neighbors are first-generation city dwellers, and I guess they can't pass up a good piece of dirt!

Still, the crops in the river bottoms do make for a pretty picture, don't they? 

It's fairly precarious to leave road-level and trudge down to the real riverside. 

And to give a little perspective on how densely populated this area is (despite the pics), you'll definitely want to take careful note of the picture below.  Dad took it from the 12th floor, looking towards the mountains in the distance.  Our apartment complex is the orange-reddish buildings in the direct foreground (you can't see our building).  The river runs directly (and I mean, directly) behind the concrete building under construction on the right side of the photo!

That's our version of 'down to the river'.  Grateful.

all about cats

Monday the girls and I made cat puppets with paper lunch bags (not a commodity here, but a mom-friend of older kids spotted them in another foreigner's give-away pile and snagged them for me - how cool is that!)

Turns out this is pretty much the perfect project for my girls, and I'm glad we got a big stack of paper bags (and I found a website with links to paper bag puppet templates for about fifty different animals, from bald eagles to zebras).  Hello, this is one craft we'll be doing all winter long! 

Print the template, color, cut, glue (not always in that order) and you're set to go.  Lydia named her cat Olivia.  Since Lydia spends less time spelling (or attempting spelling) I got to write her name on the back of the puppet:  O-L-I-V-I-A.

Julianna named hers Elibet.  I thought it was a nice take on "Elizabeth".  Unfortunately, she does all her own spelling and it came out: L-U-B-E-T.  Sound it out folks, she's pretty much dead on.  But it looks a lot prettier the way I'd like to write it :) 

So, our two new cats (and the closest we'll get to pets for a good long while)  - Olivia and Lubet!

But those aren't the only cats on my mind these days.  We've got another member of the cat family that's a BIG part of our household.....  Isaac's tiger, Bei Bei (pronounced Bay-Bay and named after the city where Isaac was born).

Bei Bei is a cute little thing, and I'm glad to have him around.  But there's one big problem-o.  When Isaac holds Bei Bei, his fingers pop right in his mouth and he starts sucking. 

Both my girls were paci users.  And both of them ditched the habit the same fateful day.  I was already pregnant with #3 (soon to be Isaac) and not in the mood to be rescuing pacis from behind couch cushions and under bed covers.  So I bit the bullet, tossed the pacis, endured the fussing, and a few days later we were a paci free family.

Then Isaac showed up and oh how I wanted him to love the paci.  I love the paci, my baby loves the paci.  We are happy.

But he would have none of it.  Nope, just wanted those fingers.  Even then, when he was just a few months old, I already had a nagging suspicion that getting rid of the fingers was going to be a smidge trickier than tucking them in a ziploc bag and hiding them in my top drawer. 

So now that he's hit the official two-and-a-half mark I'm thinking more seriously about the fingers.  I do love it - sometimes.  He's a real snuggle bug, and is super content to sit in my lap at the end of the day, holding that tiger and sucking away.  LOVE it.

But folks, long-term it's just not going to work.  I've thought about trying to restrict Bei Bei to the bed - Isaac wants to hold him,  he has to get in the bed with him.  But I'm not sure that's the route I want to take.  No way Jose can I take Bei Bei away.  We'd be dealing with some sort of post-traumatic syndrome for years.  Do I just grin and bear it..... and hope he looses the habit before college?

Oh, and yes, we have two Bei Beis.  Isaac only knows about one of them.  Bei Bei #1 gets too yucky to tolerate, he goes in the washer and Bei Bei #2 (affectionately referred to as the 'stunt double') makes his appearance. 

Your thoughts please.  I'm headed into un-charted territory :)

welcome fall

Welcome fall, we're glad you're here.  Please stay a while!   

Two weeks ago, the recorded high temp was 93 degrees.  Today's was 68.  That's a 25 degree difference for those of you non-UNC grads :) 

Late afternoon we went out walking down by the river.  (See below for proof that I actually leave the house!  12+ weeks and I am finally feeling close to normal.  Close.  Not quite, but dramatic improvement from weeks previous!)

Something about when a child meets a railing... they climb.  Every single time :) 

The girls were busy showing Dad how 'good' they are at standing on one foot. 

He was a bit under impressed with the foot standing, but enjoyed himself nonetheless. 

I am loving the cooler temps, though I know I'll be more than ready for hot summer when it rolls around next year.  Now if we can just get fall to hang around for a while, this city has a reputation of skipping the 'middle seasons' and jumping from winter straight to summer and back again.  Spring temps lasted about two weeks.  I was washing up winter coats for storage and the girls were already in sundresses. 

Hopefully it'll be many weeks (months??) before I'm pulling out winter coats, but I think the sundresses might be a distant memory for now. 

photo drop :)

Mom left on a noon flight to Beijing, then it's off to Chicago and on towards home :) If only the journey took as long as writing that first sentence, ha!

It was an amazing two weeks - such delight to have her here and (as she shared) the kids are just at really fun ages for a visit.  Not that any age is NOT fun, but you know what I mean....

So, here's a collection of some of my favorite photos from the visit. It's fun to have Dad here as a photographer, it means I actually get into a photo or two (though he is noticeably absent!).  [And Dad will be here for more weeks - then off to Malaysia, then back here before finally heading home to the U.S.]

Isaac spends HOURS in his room, driving his cars around. 

Just love this sweet face and the birthday cupcake :) 

What multi-tasking looks like!  I cannot even begin to guess the number of hours we spend at this little table, nor the number of cap-less markers at the end of a day :) 

Julianna is desperate to learn how to sew.  She actually already made a little sleeper for her baby doll - she did it all herself (except thread the needle). She cut the fabric, stitched up the sides, even stitched a little design in the front.  It's a little awkward to use and I help her dress her baby in it, but she is only 5 years old. 

Anyways, when Grandmama was here she tried to learn a little crochet.  It's hard for Mom to teach her, since Mom crochets left handed, but she made a good effort. 

Dad took this pic of the kids on the big bed at Mom and Dad's apartment one morning.  Pretty classic shot, Julianna reading Wind in the Willows (or at least trying her best) and the other two wrestling :) 

Isaac and his new fav book... The Big Book of Things that Go.  Which we now read approximately once every 90 minutes.  Good times.

My future engineer :)  With a lot of help from her Granddaddy, finished her first attempt at following the instructions and creating a Lego building project. 

There's lots more but I'll stop here for now.  So much fun to have visitors in town!!!

we do a lot of this....

What are we busy doing these days?  Lots of things, and I am needing to get photos downloaded so I can do a photo-loaded post. 

In the meantime, Mom and Dad are doing LOTS of reading!  Something like this plays out nearly every day...

And another common occurrence?  A sibling crawling up on the arm to join the fun and get a closer look.

Today the temperatures were hot - again - and we even put the pool out in the courtyard.  I know I will regret this, but for now I'm ready for consistently cooler temps since it really helps me feel lots better.  I'm sad that I'm wishing away all these hot sweaty days, but I just feel SO much nicer when the temperature is a little cooler. 

Tomorrow is Mom's last day (can you believe it? two weeks passed already) and we'll take her to the airport Friday morning.  But she'll be back sometime this spring to meet the new arrival (or arrivals?  lets see how fast this adoption paperwork can fly)!!

purple birthday cake and "Matt's september"

Since the day Lydia turned 4 (August 15th) she has been looking forward to celebrating again with Grandmama and Granddaddy.... and today was finally the day!!!

She requested purple cake, so Mom brought a white cake mix and we used food coloring to color the batter.  So fun for the girls to stir, and it really turned out cool.

I think we'll be making more colored cakes, since it's just a fun and easy way to spice things up.

And the end result was perfectly delicious :)

After dinner, present opening!  She dug into a big gift bag and pulled out our first set of Legos!!!  I am thrilled and can't wait for hours of building fun.  Lydia is definitely our best build-er to date, she just has a knack for putting things together, maybe it's her Daddy's engineering brain that passed on the right combination of genetic material?  I thought this would be a great gift for her, and for the whole family.

Turns out Isaac was impressed too, everyone was.  Matt is definitely hooked!

In the photo you can barely spot yet another huge goose-egg over Isaac's right eye.  Matt's a proud Daddy tonight because this one came from Isaac's first over-the-handlebars maneuver.  A sweet moment for a bike loving Daddy to share with his little boy :)  Granted, it was over the 'handlebars' of a four wheeled riding toy, but Matt's glad to see his boy is headed in the right direction!

And speaking of bike riding escapades, I thought I'd share this one from Matt..... in my mind this is the perfect synopsis of "Matt's September".  It is just a crazy busy time of year when he's got something boiling on all four burners, loving (almost) everything he does, head spinning from morning to night, dreaming and working and thinking and planning.  It does make for some long days, long weeks for him, but he just loves it.

Anyways, yesterday evening he gets home just in time to finish up bedtime with the girls (but already missed Isaac who goes down 15 minutes earlier, usually).  Mom and Dad left soon after the girls were down and the two of us sat at the kitchen table to catch up.

He pointed to new scrapes and bruises on his arms and legs and starts this story....  "So anyways, today I was on my way to campus, pedaling and pedaling, mind spinning with about ten topics, and trying to plan out what I was getting ready to say to the group [of visiting Americans that he was orienting, sending out for a day's work].  And it was time to stop the bike but I wasn't ready, so I pulled the brakes hard, still busy planning my talk.  And completely forgot to put my foot down.  I smacked right over onto the pavement, feet still in the toe straps, never once having thought about putting down a foot for balance."

We laughed.  It's not funny when someone gets hurt.  But you have to admit it is often funnier afterwards.  Especially when you know Matt - he's an amazing biker, spends hours and hours on his bike, is as comfortable on two wheels as most of us are on two feet.  That he would "wreck" simply by failing to consider the need to stop, and then forgetting to put down a foot for stability shows just how terribly distracted he is with other things!!  I said, "baby, that's like the perfect picture image of your September."

We laughed even harder later, when he shared that he wrecked RIGHT in front of where he was meeting the group ...... and they pulled up about two minutes later.  What if they had arrived first?  A group of visitors, fresh off the plane, not sure where they were or what they were supposed to be doing, and their "guide" for the day pulled up on his bike and promptly fell square on to the pavement?  He tried to imagine jumping up from his imperfect arrival and saying "don't worry guys, I'm here to help, I've got you taken care of, things will be just fine".  Think anyone would have believed him?!?!?

In the end he must have figured out the right things to say, the group headed off for a hard day's work and he was super excited about all that happened that day.  There is LOTS of exciting stuff happening, and I love to see him enjoy it all.

i will post again, i promise :)

I've gotten way behind on blogging this week and now I need to get pictures off of Dad's camera before I can really do a thorough post. 

The quick summary is: everyone is having a great time! I am feeling LOTS better (probably partly because the temps have finally cooled off and partly because Mom is helping so much around the house and partly because the weeks keep ticking by and soon I will be 2nd trimester!)

Right now the kids are in the courtyard.  Julianna was busy making "gingerbread brown soup" - which was the perfect activity for her to enjoy on her own :)  "I'm just being creative", she said.

But now her siblings have joined her in the creativity and things are quickly spiraling out of muddy control :)  It's already evident that Isaac is going to need a thorough rinsing from the waist down and a new set of clothing. 

oh well :)  fun times call for new sets of clothing, especially when you are a two and a half year old boy with a bowl of water, a chopstick, and a weed-overgrown garden full of rich brown dirt at your disposal!! 

you gotta start somewhere

Today Matt, Mom & Dad and the kids headed out for a little adventure in a nearby mountainous area.  [I stayed home, since I had plenty of road trip adventure last month and am still in no state to be trooping around in the hot sunshine on a kid-sized hike!]

Dad got some great pics (next post) and everyone had a terrific time.  I joined them for supper at a noodle shop near campus. 

And I can't resist posting this photo series of my boy Isaac, trying to get the hang of chopsticks :)

If you haven't tried eating a bowl of noodles with a pair of chopsticks, you might want to consider that his technique, while it needs work, is flawless in the "effectiveness" department.  When eating noodles with chopsticks, effectiveness trumps technique for every beginner! 

I guess every time you learn something new, you gotta start somewhere, right? 

Dinner was yummy, baths were an absolute must, and bedtime was early (even for Mom and Dad, who are battling jet lag and winning on all counts!)

Pictures from the mountain adventure to follow!

the mountain trip

The pictures clearly reveal that everyone had a great time! 

One of my new favorite sister pictures :)  This one is so sweet. 

Granddaddy and grandson on the swinging bridge

(According to sources, this little man Isaac did a LOT of walking today - he was so tired he literally could not walk a straight line leaving the noodle restaurant where we ate supper.... swerving and swaying from side to side!  Betcha he'll sleep good tonight, huh?)

Climbing the stairs with Daddy

For all you aspiring Grandmothers out there, I'm sure my mom would be happy to share her techniques and let you know just how she manages to hold hands with three children at the same time!! 

And one last shot of the surroundings.  Beautiful, isn't it?  I'm pretty sure next time I'll be ready to hop in the car and join the fun! 

But this time.... I enjoyed a nice slow quiet relaxing (hmmmm, how many more happy adjectives can I throw in???) day here at home.  I cranked out some more adoption paperwork, which I haven't looked at in weeks (thanks to the pregnancy crud).  Our next big "hoop" is our pending application for immigration approval (issued by the US government).  Once we get immigration approval our dossier (fancy word for large intimidating stack of paper) is complete and can be mailed to China!!  From there, it's a few (hopefully) quick steps to getting matched with a specific child!!  woohoo! 

is "driving" really the right word?

One thing that's fun about people coming to visit.... they learn what life is like here.  Really like. 

This is the first time my parents visited since we've become a car-owning family.  And Mom and Dad agree... the verb "to drive" doesn't really describe what really happens when you slide behind the wheel.  At least not the way that most Americans understand "to drive". 

Different parts of town, different kinds of roads, call for different driving techniques.  In some areas of the city stoplights have camera sensors that snap photos of red-light-running license plates.  In other areas of the city, weeeeellllll.... no camera sensors.
 

I consistently run the stoplight nearest our apartment.  So does everyone else.  Which means it's less a stoplight than a warning signal - approach slowly, look for cars approaching from other directions, yield to everything bigger than you :) 

Friday night we were going out to grab dinner before heading to the airport to pick up Mom and Dad.  Traffic slowed, then stopped and we quickly realized the problem.  No one was paying one lick of attention to the stoplight at this intersection. 

The camera was in the floorboard (in prep for meeting Mom and Dad) and I snapped a few photos.  For reference, you can spot the gray-colored hood of our minivan in the bottom left of the photo below.  We needed to go straight through the intersection. 

It took a few minutes to get through. 


Come over and visit.  We'll take you for a drive!

they're here!

Mom and Dad made it right on time last night, actually a few minutes early :)  We passed the kids over the railing and into baggage claim for a little early visiting.

I think Mom and Dad were grateful for the help! 

Everyone slept well last night and we're busy visiting this morning.  Dad's already been introduced to the Isaac version of a game of Go Fish, and now he's playing with Julianna (definitely an upgrade in terms of competition!).  Isaac moved over to the sofa to read Curious George with Lydia and Mom.

More good times to come :) 

superman is back

and we couldn't be happier :)

oh delight of delights to have this man back to lead our home and our family.

Typically, as the travel days pass by, we get into a new routine - the first night is hard, but things get smoother as the days add up and we (me and the kids) make our own new groove.  This time, not so much.  So not ashamed to say that, health-wise, I am not in a place to successfully single parent :) 

Also thrilled that today is September 1st and I am hopeful that this crud will be over by late September.  [If I'm not going to be better by late September, I don't want to think about that right now, and would prefer to live in my own little fantasy for the time being.]

Oh, and best news yet?  Mom and Dad arrive tomorrow night.  I'm so excited they are coming, but the excitement is tempered with the realization that we won't be able to do all of the fun things I've thought to fill our days with.  But still, so so so eager for them to get here.  If all goes well their 24 hour travel stint ends at 8pm tomorrow (Friday), when they land at the airport just a few kilometers from our home! 

Mom and I are actually emailing back and forth as I wait for the photo to upload.  They just landed in Chicago and are headed towards the international terminal!  Man oh man I cannot WAIT for them to get here!