Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Pumpkins and Halloween
Halloween isn't a Chinese holiday, so we don't celebrate it overly much over here. However, our community does host a harvest festival, and I thought it would be fun to carve a pumpkin (that I had picked myself!). Sorry these are late, but our communication lines have been a little messed up lately.
I wanted Matthew to experience the textures too :-)
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
I wanted Matthew to experience the textures too :-)
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
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| From 2012.10 October |
Friday, October 12, 2012
Hair Cut
Lizbeth recently had her first hair cut (well first since I shaved her head at 4 months). Since her hair is a bit odd, very curly underneath and very straight on top, I decided to let a professional do it. I was really impressed both by how well she did and by how prepared the salon was for a little kid. Lizbeth was delighted and stayed amazingly still through the whole thing. She still likes to tell people about her haircut and it's been almost a month!
Before:
During:
After:
Before:
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| From 2012.9 September |
During:
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| From 2012.9 September |
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| From 2012.9 September |
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| From 2012.9 September |
After:
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| From 2012.9 September |
Monday, October 8, 2012
Solid Foods
As mentioned recently, Matthew finally convinced me to start him on solid foods. I was trying to wait until six months, but he would scream through dinner and tried to grab anything I put in my mouth.
Funny story, I actually decided to start him on solids once I realized his thrust reflex was completely gone. He showed me this by delivering a significant piece of McDonald's wrapper in his diaper one day...what a great mom I am :-) I honestly had no idea he had actually gotten a piece of it in his mouth the day before.
He took to actual solid foods like a duck takes to water.
I think he likes it :-)
He now cries when we go out for dinner and I forget to take a little something for him too. :-)
Funny story, I actually decided to start him on solids once I realized his thrust reflex was completely gone. He showed me this by delivering a significant piece of McDonald's wrapper in his diaper one day...what a great mom I am :-) I honestly had no idea he had actually gotten a piece of it in his mouth the day before.
He took to actual solid foods like a duck takes to water.
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| From 2012.9 September |
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| From 2012.9 September |
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| From 2012.9 September |
I think he likes it :-)
He now cries when we go out for dinner and I forget to take a little something for him too. :-)
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Happy Moon Festival
So I've been here for 4 plus years and I still have very little understanding of all the Chinese holidays. I've even read books about them, but since they are generally based on the lunar calendar, and therefore change on the common calendar I'm used to, I have an even harder time keeping them straight.
But, every year, at the end of September or beginning of October we have a week off of school. Usually it is filled up with conferences and the like but this year was unique in that we have a true break. It's been great having Nathan home all day.
Anyways, it's a combination of their national holiday, October 1st, and the mid autumn moon festival. Because of this, you usually eat and give lots of "moon cakes", a traditional treat that many foreigners don't actually like too much because they often put what we think of as strange items in the middle, like bean paste or egg.The outside cake part is also very dense and rich.
A big part of our school is teaching the students Chinese culture, so all of the classes spend some time making them in their Chinese class period and then hand them out to teachers and take them home to their families. Since this is the first year I've been eating gluten, it is my first year to actually participate in the desserts!
I was super impressed with how well they made them, and so professional. Look at the fun wrappers and impressions.
The school usually tries to make them fairly foreigner friendly, and Lizbeth and I certainly enjoyed sharing them for dessert and breakfast!
But, every year, at the end of September or beginning of October we have a week off of school. Usually it is filled up with conferences and the like but this year was unique in that we have a true break. It's been great having Nathan home all day.
Anyways, it's a combination of their national holiday, October 1st, and the mid autumn moon festival. Because of this, you usually eat and give lots of "moon cakes", a traditional treat that many foreigners don't actually like too much because they often put what we think of as strange items in the middle, like bean paste or egg.The outside cake part is also very dense and rich.
A big part of our school is teaching the students Chinese culture, so all of the classes spend some time making them in their Chinese class period and then hand them out to teachers and take them home to their families. Since this is the first year I've been eating gluten, it is my first year to actually participate in the desserts!
I was super impressed with how well they made them, and so professional. Look at the fun wrappers and impressions.
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| From 2012.9 September |
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| From 2012.9 September |
The school usually tries to make them fairly foreigner friendly, and Lizbeth and I certainly enjoyed sharing them for dessert and breakfast!
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| From 2012.9 September |
Thursday, October 4, 2012
I'm Back!
I've had every intention of giving you all a good picture post as both kids are just so adorable and I haven't had any pictures on here is SOOOO long. However, I haven't been able to reach blogger long enough to post in weeks! So, here's a quick update, and if I still have a connection, I'll do my best to follow it with some pics.
Matthew is nearly 6 months old (next week!) He's very close to being able to sit, just started rice cereal, is always hungry, and still wakes up 2-4 times a night...needless to say, we're a bit exhausted, but he makes up for it with his adorable grins and constant enthusiasm for people.
Lizbeth is just about potty trained (again!) You may remember she was potty trained 7 months ago, and then gave up on it. Since then, we've had serious issues with poo in the toilet, but we may just about be there. We just started a sticker chart yesterday and if she gets to 100 she gets a bike! She has been wanting one forever but with our tightened finances we have been waiting. We were going to get one for her 2nd bday but her poor little legs weren't long enough to reach the peddles of any bike we could find. We're actually probably going to get her a balance bike, but we'll see. She is super excited and we hear a lot of "I go poopy, I get a bike!" Every 10 stickers she gets a smaller prize, like icecream out or a small toy.
You might also remember that Lizbeth had her photos done last spring by a Chinese company. They were super eager to use her again and have even added me into the mix. If you want to see some very Chinesey advertising (look at the English on the pics) go to:
www.qingdaoertong.com
You can click on the pics of us to open up the series.
And since I'm not posting any real pics, I'll paint an adorable word picture for you of Lizbeth tonight. A sweet relative of ours gave Lizbeth a beautiful pair of pink leather cowgirl boots this summer. Lizbeth LOVES them and wears them every chance she can. We don't usually wear shoes in the house, but today I caught her marching around the house in just the shoes and a pink and white pair of panties holding a meter long stick she found a few days ago. So cute, but probably wouldn't post the mostly nude 2 year old here anyways. :-)
Hope you are all doing great! We miss you!
Matthew is nearly 6 months old (next week!) He's very close to being able to sit, just started rice cereal, is always hungry, and still wakes up 2-4 times a night...needless to say, we're a bit exhausted, but he makes up for it with his adorable grins and constant enthusiasm for people.
Lizbeth is just about potty trained (again!) You may remember she was potty trained 7 months ago, and then gave up on it. Since then, we've had serious issues with poo in the toilet, but we may just about be there. We just started a sticker chart yesterday and if she gets to 100 she gets a bike! She has been wanting one forever but with our tightened finances we have been waiting. We were going to get one for her 2nd bday but her poor little legs weren't long enough to reach the peddles of any bike we could find. We're actually probably going to get her a balance bike, but we'll see. She is super excited and we hear a lot of "I go poopy, I get a bike!" Every 10 stickers she gets a smaller prize, like icecream out or a small toy.
You might also remember that Lizbeth had her photos done last spring by a Chinese company. They were super eager to use her again and have even added me into the mix. If you want to see some very Chinesey advertising (look at the English on the pics) go to:
www.qingdaoertong.com
You can click on the pics of us to open up the series.
And since I'm not posting any real pics, I'll paint an adorable word picture for you of Lizbeth tonight. A sweet relative of ours gave Lizbeth a beautiful pair of pink leather cowgirl boots this summer. Lizbeth LOVES them and wears them every chance she can. We don't usually wear shoes in the house, but today I caught her marching around the house in just the shoes and a pink and white pair of panties holding a meter long stick she found a few days ago. So cute, but probably wouldn't post the mostly nude 2 year old here anyways. :-)
Hope you are all doing great! We miss you!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Done
So, here we are in Korea. Tomorrow we head back to our sweet daughter-oh how I miss her!
Our time here was quite different than I expected. By the time we flew in, picked up our rented phone, found the bus, sat on the bus FOREVER because of the rainstorm and traffic, missed our stop and walked back from the next one, it was 8:30 at night. Add finding our place, dropping our stuff, and eating dinner it was quite late by the time we crashed.
The next day, Wednesday, we headed out about 10:00, wandered around, found a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and began navigating the subway to find the hospital--suddenly we were nearly late!
We met with the neurologist and he was very knowledgeable. He felt due to the combination of migraines and the brain "lesion", as they kept referring to it, there is quite likely a hole in the heart allowing blood to pass from one side to the other where it really wasn't supposed to...and allowing tiny blood clots to head to the brain. In order to get all the testing done quickly, he opted to admit me...and I've spent the past 2 1/2 days in the hospital now! So much for seeing Korea between appointments! (And thank goodness for good insurance!)
Well, after all the testing, they have found that indeed I do have some blood going where it shouldn't, but they can not find the hole. Further testing would require an invasive procedure and at this point the risks outweigh the benefits. Therefore, for now, I am to do my best to prevent headaches through lifestyle changes (avoiding dehydration and migraine triggers, and making sure to exercise regularly). After I am done nursing Matthew, I will go on some type of blood thinner, probably a small amount of Aspirin a day, to prevent clots. Then in a year or so we will redo some testing to make sure nothing has gotten worse.
How do I feel? Relieved that it is not something scary such as cancer or MS. A little bummed that all I can do is treat the headaches. So glad to be headed back to Lizbeth. Relieved that we're not dealing with surgery right now with two little ones! In some ways it feels like this was an expensive way to find out very little, but in other ways it is such a relief. Thank you for all of your prayers! We have been blessed in so many ways through this time!
Our time here was quite different than I expected. By the time we flew in, picked up our rented phone, found the bus, sat on the bus FOREVER because of the rainstorm and traffic, missed our stop and walked back from the next one, it was 8:30 at night. Add finding our place, dropping our stuff, and eating dinner it was quite late by the time we crashed.
The next day, Wednesday, we headed out about 10:00, wandered around, found a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and began navigating the subway to find the hospital--suddenly we were nearly late!
We met with the neurologist and he was very knowledgeable. He felt due to the combination of migraines and the brain "lesion", as they kept referring to it, there is quite likely a hole in the heart allowing blood to pass from one side to the other where it really wasn't supposed to...and allowing tiny blood clots to head to the brain. In order to get all the testing done quickly, he opted to admit me...and I've spent the past 2 1/2 days in the hospital now! So much for seeing Korea between appointments! (And thank goodness for good insurance!)
Well, after all the testing, they have found that indeed I do have some blood going where it shouldn't, but they can not find the hole. Further testing would require an invasive procedure and at this point the risks outweigh the benefits. Therefore, for now, I am to do my best to prevent headaches through lifestyle changes (avoiding dehydration and migraine triggers, and making sure to exercise regularly). After I am done nursing Matthew, I will go on some type of blood thinner, probably a small amount of Aspirin a day, to prevent clots. Then in a year or so we will redo some testing to make sure nothing has gotten worse.
How do I feel? Relieved that it is not something scary such as cancer or MS. A little bummed that all I can do is treat the headaches. So glad to be headed back to Lizbeth. Relieved that we're not dealing with surgery right now with two little ones! In some ways it feels like this was an expensive way to find out very little, but in other ways it is such a relief. Thank you for all of your prayers! We have been blessed in so many ways through this time!
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