New Digs

We've moved! Yay! Finally after years of looking we found an apartment that was right. It wasn't without some serious pains, but we believe Dad has put us in just the right place.

So here is the lowdown. We have 5 rooms, a nice sized living room and attached dining area, a little nook with an island and a decent kitchen. Our balcony overlooks a pond and the playground and our nook overlooks the pool. Yes, I said a pool. And it is clean, although it is only open 2 months of the year from 4-9pm. The best part of our new place is the grounds. Beautiful! It is like living in the center of a park. One evening last week I walked across to a friends house and found myself imagining that I was in the woods, hiking. Now I haven't had that feeling in a loooong time. Now if I just had time to get out and walk around every evening....

We haven't gotten all the boxes unpacked and there is still no art or photos hung on the walls, but we are pretty much at home now, so here is the tour...


Walking in the front door there is a big wardrobe for coats and shoes. To the left is the kitchen and office which you'll see at the end of the tour. To the right you can see the dining area and part of the living room.

Here is the living room. Pretty simple. You can see the balcony with some clothes hung on rack outside. We are on the 9th floor... Here is the view from our balcony. Ponds and grass... in the near distance they are building a mall that will supposedly have an imax theater and a McDonalds...

to the right you can see the playground... a place we frequent!
Back inside. The first room you come to belongs to the girls. Good thing there's a doll house, else you might not know this very blue room is indeed a girlie girls' room.

Across the hall is the school room! This is my favorite room. It makes my life easier, more organized and just happy! You can see the reading nook there on the window seat...This is our school room mural. I am very pleased with our choice even though poor Peter will have to look at ballerinas while learning his math facts if we are still here in 5 years ( I hope we are!)

I love my IKEA bookshelf that we decided to hang on the wall. I wanted you to see it so there it is on the right! Moving on down the hall we come to Peter's room. Do you see Gracie? She wanted to be in the picture : ) I love the mural in Peter's room too.

And across the hall is my room. Our window seat is still full of framed photos and a few boxes of stuff that needs to find a place to go. Our room is super simple, but the window seat is amazing. It wraps around and gives a full view of the grounds out back.
I just had to share the horrible blinds in my bathroom. Just in case I want to think I'm at the pool... and unfortunately we have to leave them down or we give the neighborhood a show every time we go potty. My plan is to have a shower curtain hung that can be easily opened and closed. For now, we're at the pool! Gracie seems to like it.

Going back to the other end of the house... here is the view of the living room from the other direction with the dining area and my very cheap buffet that was supposed to match the table. It doesn't, but it matches the couch so I let it stay: )
Once you pass the entry way you enter the girl nook... this is my island/bar. I will some day purchase some bar stools.

Here is a view of the kitchen. There's Ayi doing what she does best! Making my life easier!!! Here's the kitchen. I love this kitchen... the counters are 90 cms high... I can wash dishes without getting a backache. A little funny... the track lighting fell at one end because the ceiling is empty. I plan to just glue it up there at some point.
Here is the view from that huge picture window on the back side of the island. That's the pool : )

Sorry, no photo of the office. I'll try to get one soon!

Feel free to come visit us anytime! We have a trundle bed!

Gracie's swimming lessons!

Our little swimmer!

I mean! Gracie seems to struggle with authority sometimes. This isn't her most enduring quality, although she is very enduring most of the time. Swimming lessons was another reminder that she doesn't like not being able to call all the shots, but she accomplished quite a bit regardless of her stubbornness. I think she was a little scared at first and didn't know what to do about water going up her nose, so she did better once she mastered holding her breath. She'll definitely be taking swimming lessons again next summer in the States, where she'll probably do much better not being yelled at in Chinese. I think she could probably survive if she fell in the pool, but I wouldn't want to find out. She is cute though and her good days out-shined her bad ones! I love this kid to pieces!

Practicing the scissor kick!

She got good with that kickboard!

Peter at 6 months!

Peter doing 2 of his favorite things-playing and sticking out his tongue.

Time really flies with a baby in the house. I can hardly believe Peter is already 6 months old. It seems like only a few weeks ago I was realizing that I would not make it to the hospital in time and opted to have Peter at home, his proud Daddy catching him as he entered the world. A lot has happened since then, but still the time has seemed so short. I find myself wishing Peter would stay a baby forever some days. He is so cute, so cuddly! We call him sweet face because sometimes he just looks at us with that grin and those dimples and those gorgeous blue eyes and he looks like an angel. What a precious little boy the Lord has given us!

At 6 months Peter has officially cut his 2 bottom front teeth! Not at all without due fussing and sleeplessness, but the teeth are here! He is getting up on all fours but still just scooting backward,usually getting stuck under the edge of the sofa. He loves to play with toys, and I mean real toys. He's had enough of those stuffed Einstein toys, unless they make plenty of noise. His toy of choice is a bag of wipes, but Mom and Dad won't let him naw on them so he usually settles for a pop up toy or the keys. We all love it when Peter laughs and the girls have learned to tickle him to get a good giggle going.Peter almost crawling!

I've broken all "the rules" with Peter, and I've loved every minute of it! He has slept with me since the day he was born. He will sleep in his crib during naps sometimes, but he clearly prefers the sleep number, and who wouldn't? His number is somewhere between 65 and 85 since he sleeps in the middle : ) He still nurses at night and his schedule could be describes as loose at best. He goes where I go and I don't see it as a burden, although he is a hefty little fella. He weighed almost 19 pounds at his last doctor visit a month ago. Anyway, I am fully enjoying Peter. I plan to get him on a real schedule this month starting with nap time. I need to get him eating and sleeping at more precise times for when school starts back, but I think he'll sleep with me a little longer. Maybe the Chinese have rubbed off on me. Don't worry, I won't be sleeping with him when he's 5. But, I figure he may be the last child I give birth to so I want to enjoy every minute!*** Peter went along to check out a new apartment, speaking of fatties, his momma is a bit***

Peter has a nickname around here- it's Fatty, but we only call him that in Chinese which sounds much cuter "Pang Pang". He has rolls all over and has always outweighed his friends both local and foreign. He started smacking his lips at the table and reaching for food about 2 weeks ago, so I got him a high chair and started feeding him cereal. Within a week he knew what to do and now eats a whole bowl at lunchtime. Last night he had a bowl of pumpkin, fresh from the market! Making baby food is time consuming, but rewarding!

Lola wanted to try her hand at feeding Peter. Peter wanted Lola to hurry up!

So, as we say goodbye to the first half of Peter's first year we do so with gratitude! He was delivered to us in a unique way in God's time. He met his family right away, including his Mims. He made it through a terrible cold last month complete with breathing treatments : ( He met his Meme and Aunt Peggy this summer. He has developed well and grown stronger with each passing day. He fills our home with joy. Everyone loves Peter and has to have some snuggle time with him each day. We are so thankful for this gift that only our Father in heaven could give us.

I think Peter likes that Meme person!

Matt and I also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary the day Peter turned 6 months old! Joy! Joy! Life is good!

Gracie graduates from Kindergarten

Gracie & friends ( minus Maddie who was camera shy)

Yummy Yum!

Gracie made a fox puppet.

We did it! Gracie finally graduated from Kindergarten the last day of June, 2011. Despite the exhaustion of being very pregnant at the beginning of the school year and the time taken off to have Peter we finally completed the curriculum. Gracie made a lot of accomplishments this year. She learned to read, add, subtract, write simple stories and her drawing improved greatly. We enjoyed doing simple science experiments and discovered many things about our history. I am proud of my girl!

To celebrate we had a little party with our friends. The kids made puppets and we had several puppet shows, Gracie got a certificate, and we enjoyed cupcakes and icecream. The kids played hard and Gracie enjoyed every minute. She was happy to say after receiving her certificate that she is now a 1st grader. Wow!
Gr

Test anxiety

I am exhausted. Two Fridays ago I went out of town with a group of ladies and had a great time, Peter in tow! I returned home on Monday evening, cooked dinner and fell into bed sometime after midnight. The next day I washed clothes and packed another suitcase and left with my family for Hong Kong. We were there until Saturday. We got home in the evening and tried to unpack the food and other things we had purchased in HK then I headed to bed, late again. Sunday we had guests all day. It is the day of worship and so we do that and then we fellowship... all day. Our friends left after 10 pm, which was fine because we had a great time, but I didn't get to bed again until midnight. Suitcase still unpacked sitting in my bedroom floor.... house a mess! Monday - homeschool kept me from cleaning or unpacking and I had a Chinese lesson in the afternoon. I went to the foreign market between the two activities, but that was a waste of time because the ATM was broken and I didn't have enough cash to get the things I needed. Tuesday... Chinese lesson in the morning and before that is finished enter out of town guest. I knew they were coming so I spent the time before they arrived unpacking the suitcase... but the house wasn't fully recovered... sigh.

Our sweet friends stayed two days and left Wednesday night. Not one minute was wasted those 2 days. If they went to the hotel to rest then I went to the market or got in our last few lessons of school. Wednesday was also our last day of Kindergarten - officially!!! Thursday... party of course! I woke up and frantically started trying to put my house back together. I think I made everyone mad at me, sorry family. We live in a 3 bedroom apartment that has zero closets, no attic space and only one wardrobe per bedroom. I have to store all our clothes, summer, winter, spring plus the Christmas tree, art supplies, extra bags, shoes, etc, etc, etc in these and there is no place for anything extra. We hoard books so we bought a huge bookshelf, but it is full. There is literally paper, books, clothes, toys and a number of other things sticking out all around the house. At any given time you may find up to 5 or 6 bags laying in the floor. These may be my things, baby bag, Matt's teaching bag, his computer bag, or one of the kids backpacks. Our family of 5 is about to bust the seams of this place. With that said, you can imagine how easily this house gets into a mess. So, back to Thursday morning... me trying to clean/straighten the house was a bit stressful and I had a Chinese lesson starting at 9. At noon my tutor left and I was getting ready to start the cupcakes for Gracie's graduation party. She was bored this morning while I was studying so I had her go through all the crayons and find the broken ones so that we could melt them into new crayons. Note to self... be sure to use an oven safe object to melt the crayons in next time. I had this ice cube tray, that looked like silicone. It looked like it was made of the same thing I cook the cupcakes in, but it was plastic and it melted and filled the house with toxic smoke. Crayon and melted plastic ran all over the oven - the same oven I was planning to cook the cupcakes in... disaster! We acted fast. Our helper put the oven outside on the balcony and I opened all the windows and doors and turned the fans on. I had to use the old oven that acts now as a drying rack for glasses... I burned the first 2 batches of cupcakes and had to cut the tops off. At least that worked. We ate lunch, I fed the baby...oh yeah, during all these things I've been doing I have had to stop and feed Peter every 3 hours. Which is not a hassle at all because I am totally in love with him but it is something else I have to do. So at 2 our first guest arrived and I was so glad because she helped me ice the cupcakes while i pulled all the art supplies down. Matt got home early and I put him to work making our new puppet theater and by the time everyone else arrived it appeared that I had it all together - NOT! But the kids didn't know and they didn't care. They made their little puppets, they played. We had a puppet show or two or three then hit the snacks. Everyone left around 5, I cooked dinner at 6, we ate and my friend helped me review some of my Chinese because I have a HUGE test today. I was exhausted all day, went to bed at 10 and couldn't sleep. Went to sleep, woke up hot. Finally went back to sleep, Lola crawls in my bed and wakes me up. Tossed, turned... got up and started this blog. It is not 2:30 in the morning and I am still exhausted and hoping I will finally fall asleep and maybe sleep well for the next 3 hours before i have to get up and shower and strap the boy on and head out the door to catch me 8 am train to another city to take a Chinese profiency test that I am not ready for in the first place but now will take without enough sleep.

Life goes on!

Gracie plays piano

We have been wanting Gracie to take piano lessons for about a year now, but between her inmaturity, the cost of lessons here and not being able to find a suitable teacher at a good time we just couldn't make it happen. But on Monday we saw a huge sign in the window of our neighbor advertising piano lessons. We called and today she had her first lesson. Usually lessons are 45 minutes long, but we negotiated to let Gracie have 20-25 minute lessons for half the price. This is a better use of time and money since she can only sit still about that long. She had a great first day! She learned where to find C, that C makes the Doe sound, how to hold a note for 4 beats, and also how to hold her hand on the piano correctly. I was amazed that both Gracie and I could understand the teacher... she doesn't speak English and I thought we might be a little lost, but on the contrary we were able to follow right along. I just sat in the background soaking it all up so that I can help her review and practice during the week. Her next lesson is on Saturday! I am so thankful that she is finally getting the chance to learn how to play an instrument. She is so musically inclined. Jia You Gracie girl!

Just lovin some Daddy!

Gracie at the dentist

Is she cute or what? The dentist gave Grace these awesome glasses to wear during her cleaning... the chair was a space chair and the chocolate flavored toothpaste was a hit. She has her teeth "tickled" clean and I was so proud of how well she did. She even let the dentist floss her pearly whites. What a trooper!

Family Outing

This is how we started off... in a taxi on our way to Ocean Terminal to get our friend a birthday present and have lunch. All 3 kids fell asleep on me in the taxi, it was awesome. I always wondered how I would manage such a task, but it was pretty easy since I have two arms and two legs. Guess there is room for one more.... that's a little joke.


The kids woke up for a yummy lunch - the girls both had a chocolate shake and corn dog (yuck)! Matt and I shared some BBQ chicken nachos (yum)!After lunch Matt left us to go get a cavity filled at the dentist. I took Peter and the girls to Toys R Us to get the present. And for the first time I managed them all, including the stroller. The Phil & Ted is awesome, but it is a pain to break down and get into the back of a taxi with an infant strapped to your front. But we did it. The kids were great! I'm lovin it!

Asian Burger Joint

Last night I just didn't want to cook, Matt had to go out late in the afternoon and by the time he returned it was already dinner time and our pantry was empty. So I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and we went out! There is this burger joint called Freshness Burger that I have been wanting to try. Matt and the girls had gone there a few times on their outings and he had raved at how good it was. He didn't bother to tell me that he hadn't actually eaten any of their burgers. The girls had enjoyed the hot dogs and he'd eaten their fries... So this time he ordered a Hawaiian burger and I ordered a veggie burger. I wish I had a picture of what they brought me. It was literally a piece of tofu on a bun with a slice of tomato and lettuce. And it wasn't even a very big slice of tofu - it would cost me about 30 cent at most to buy it in the mainland. I was appalled that this is what they charged me $35 ($6 US) for, so I promptly took it back to the counter. By this time I knew we had made a mistake... this I found out was a Japanese burger joint. Yai,yai,yaiii... The girl at the counter offered to exchange it but I just couldn't decide - nothing looked good to me now and we had just heard another foreigner (white face) complain that the burger wasn't good. I went with the mushroom burger. Yes, you guessed it - a big fat mushroom on a bun with tomato and lettuce. I got it to go, everyone else was finished. Should have gone to McDonalds.
Here is the mushroom burger they gave me... the top bun was completely soaked with mushroom juice.

Back at home we got the girls and Peter to bed - my burger went to the fridge. An hour later I decided I would spice it up a little and eat. I ended up trashing the mushroom, in retrospect I should have cut it up and sauteed it with my veggies. Instead I just completely remade my burger with red peppers, onions and avocado. It was so good. I had to replace the top of the bun with a slice of wheat bread, but it was fine.
Lesson learned! Burgers are best at an American restaurant. I know they serve Portabello mushroom burgers in the US, but there was just something weird about the burgers at "Freshness Burger".

I love the Ice Cream face!

This kid loves chocolate ice cream and she wears it well! Lola Mei is just too cute with her chocolate mustache and goatee! If she gets ice cream this is the face we get in return!

Snoopy World

Well, its not Disney Land, but it is free and at a great mall so it is fun for the whole fam! Snoopy's World has been a hit with the girls. Its nothing much but a playground with a super tall tunnel slide and this little boat ride that goes about 1 mph around a circle of Charlie Brown and his buddies doing all sorts of things like roasting marsh mellows, visiting the moon as astronauts, celebrating Halloween of all things, and flying airplanes. Really, it isn't anything special, but on your way out you can get a balloon in whatever shape you desire and have your picture made with any of the huge statues of the gang. After 30 minutes at Snoopy World Momma finally got to do some shopping - kind of (between feedings) and everyone enjoyed a Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Not a bad day.



There is also a gutted school bus - yes, a huge yellow school bus! The kids loved it. This pic is from the first trip they had to Snoopy World: )

How to have a date with 3 kids tagging along...

Step #1: Manage to get both of the hooligans to sleep at the same time close to meal time!

Step #2: Lull the infant to sleep in the carrier and leave him there!
Step #3: Be available to be together! And be willing to be spontaneous!

Step #4: Enjoy being together! I sure love being with this handsome guy! Enjoy the peace & quiet and the ability to talk without interruption!

Impossible as it may sound, Matt and I had a date this evening with all 3 of our kids! It was impromptu - which is probably the most essential element of such a date. When Matt left the flat he was on his way to the playground with two very ornery kiddos who didn't get a block away before they were both fast asleep in the stroller. He called me a few minutes later because he had a flat tire (on the stroller) and wanted me to come meet him with the pump. So I got dressed, packed Peter up and headed out the door. After getting the stroller running again we decided I'd join Matt at Starbucks since the kids were snoozing. We walked the 20 minutes jaunt and after gazing at the stairs leading up to our favored destination Matt got a little twinkle in his eye and suggested we go for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, which was in the same building. So we made our way to the elevator at the secret entrance and headed up to CPK for our first dinner date since Peter arrived. CPK is actually affordable when you are only feeding 2. The kids slept the whole time and we had a great dinner and great conversation. I sure love my sweet husband!

Nursing Woes

Peter snoozin in his sling!

My friend Dora loves to say "Easy to say, hard to do" and she is usually right. This time, I am finding myself finding it hard to follow all the advice I often give others when it comes to breast feeding. Actually, I can write this today because I had someone give me all that advice just last night and I took it to heart and Peter fed all night and this morning beautifully... but back to before last night...

Peter didn't seem to be getting enough milk, mainly due to his poor latching so I pumped some... and gave it to him in a bottle - BAD!!! Don't do this unless completely necessary because everyone in the know on the breastfeeding train knows this can cause nipple confusion or least a desire not to work so hard to get milk from the breast... that silicone nipple is just so much easier. Anyway, I rolled the dice and didn't fare well. Between pure exhaustion, worry about my milk supply that was dwindling, and my very sore nipples I gave him expressed milk around the clock to try and pump and get my milk back and give my poor nipples a break - I was crying through feeding and Peter wasn't even getting a full feed because he wasn't latching well. After 2 days of bottle feeding he wouldn't latch at all... oh no! I tried to get him on at each feeding but we both became quickly frustrated and it ended in a bottle of expressed milk and me pumping. The only positive thing was that my milk supply went up from 2 ounces to almost 5 for each feeding! On Sunday afternoon my trusty Doula brought over a breast feeding counselor who showed me some things I didn't know and reminded me of all the things I do know, but may not have been doing. She was awesome. We got Peter latched on for the first time in about 4 days and he fed 10 minutes, but she was helping and he was full from an earlier feeding so the pressure was off. When the next feeding came around it was the same ole story... Peter frustrated, not latching on, and me becoming frustrated and giving up. Exhaustion makes you so mentally weak.

Anne came over again last night. Christie (the pro) was going to come as well but couldn't make it, so Anne just had a heart to heart with me and told me like it was! I love this girl because she is like my voice to myself... she says the right things in a way I can hear them. I can always step back and think... now this is what I would be telling someone else in my shoes and I always get so frustrated when they won't listen... so I decided I was going to listen. So I made some minor changes... no more trying to feed in the chair in the living room... I will stay in the bed alone with Peter, skin to skin and try my best to relax, and sleep as much as possible.

So after a crying fit last night, which i would have given up on normally (but I had Anne to keep me accountable last night) Peter finally latched on and drank his fill. He continued through the night - it was a regular schedule... poop, feed, sleep! Happy am I today that I listened to my Doula! Grace and Lola were easy in retrospect... they didn't have latching problems and I never worried about my milk supply. Peter has tested my resolve (sweetly though I may add - he is such a sweet pea!) I am grateful at this moment because it looks as though the fog is lifting and I come out on the other end with some new knowledge that I hope will help others I encounter along the way. Once again I am humbled, but once again I am blessed.

Thank you Lord for the milk you have supplied in my body for this precious baby boy and thank you for the dear sisters you have brought into my life for this time who have walked beside me and held my hand and spoken truth to me and helped me get it right! You are an awesome God!

Peter is 7 days old...

My sweet boy is one week old today. We had a busy day and he celebrated with a circumcision... sorry my boy! But our pediatrician is so awesome and Peter did so good. I know circumcision is becoming somewhat controversial - we even read on the Drudge report this evening that San Fran may be voting to ban infant circumcision. Oh my, so maybe you are reading this post and are mad at me right now, but I figure if it is good enough for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus then it is definitely good enough for my boy. Now before you go getting all spiritual on me let me say that there is no longer a requirement to be circumcised, but it is still more than a mere tradition. First of all, I really believe that God imposed many laws on His people for their safety. It is proven that circumcision reduces the risk of infection and the spread of STDs. So, it has benefit regardless of religious implications. I am thankful that we are not under the law, we live by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Circumcision has no value alone, and circumcision of the heart is what God is most concerned with anyway. Even Paul urged Gentile believers not to be circumcised lest they be caught in the trap of trying to earn their way to heaven by their deeds. At any rate, Peter got circumcised today. We pray that one day he will trust in our Savior and circumcise his heart, that he may be pure in the eyes of the Lord.
Getting burped by Daddy! Ah... that's better. Thanks Dad.