Present for a Day

I ordered this cute thing from what most people call the Asian version of Ebay, but I think it is more like Amazon.com. Anyways a lot of what we find online are things that were manufactured here but did not make it on the boat to the US or imported food from the US. This is one of the "did not make it on the boat" items. We were thrilled to get it for Dash and he was excited to play with it...AB was excited to take it from him. The day after Christmas I looked it up online because I wanted to see how much it would cost to buy in the US, and that is when I saw it. This item was recalled. In fact it is one of like 50 toys that were recalled in the US by Fisher-Price that were made in 2006 from this country for having toxic levels of lead paint. On the website it said if you have such and such numbers on the bottom of your toy, you are to discontinue use and return immediately. Yes, those numbers were on the bottom of DB's Elmo Jack-in-the-Box. Returning it was not an option, and since I know our trash is sorted through, and I feared someone wiping it off and giving it to another kid, I did the only thing I thought to do, I tried to smash it into pieces. Turns out it, other than the lead paint it was really well made. I hurt my hand before I eventually gave up and dropped it perfectly unmanned into our trash. Bye bye Elmo.

He will never even know Elmo was here...did I take him out again without wiping the food off of his face? Bad mommy.

Matching PJs

Before DB was born, I bought AB and DB some matching PJs at a after Christmas sale in the US - my favorite shopping time of the year. I love sales. Anyways, like any self respecting mom, I wanted a picture of them in their matching PJs. This is how it started out.

Below I am brusing AB's teeth. Usually this is done in the bathroom, but for some reason that evening she had her teeth brushed in bed. Already DB is seeing this as awesome playtime and is on his way to get us.

Once I handed over the pink Dora toothbrush, I decided to put DB in my lap for the pic as I did not think he would sit still on his own...

...or with me either, apparently.

If this is any indication of his energy level in the future, I am in trouble.

Eventually I put him back in my lap and this happened - cutest cry face ever.

It continued and AB added her two bits in.

Eventually he calmed down and although still slightly redfaced, he ended up looking more confused than anything. I decided this was the best we were going to get and gave up.

Clearly AB was happy about the forced photo opportunity ending. See DB coming? He was happy too.

It is playtime like this that reminds me why I wanted to have them closer in age.

Good kids.

Pacifier

I do not like pacifiers. They just seem like one other thing we will have to break the babies of at some point. Fortunately AB never cared for one and was able to self soothe quite easily. However DB loves it and cannot seem to get enough of it. When we are at home his pacifier is reserved for crib time only, but recently he has learned he can fish it out of his crib while playing in his room. To keep it from falling out of the crib I chained it to his elephant, so he cannot take it when him. If I do not take it from him, he will sit by his bed in order to keep it in his mouth for the enture duration of playtime. He is usually quite upset with me when I move it out of his reach, but in the long run I think it is best.

Mac and Cheese

Last week DB was introduced to Mac and Cheese and it is safe to say he is a fan. I think he ate more than his almost 3 year old sister. I cannot seem to leave things alone, and I could not give my baby purely processed cheese Mac and Cheese, so I of course added real cheese and cauliflower puree. No one in my family seems to notice the healthy addition and KB says it is his favorite Mac and Cheese ever. I wonder if he knew it was 2 months expired? Anyhoo. DB absolutely got a sink bath after this meal. It was everywhere...even in his ears.

See that one noodle, trying to make it in his mouth?

There it is!

I am not sure what that glare is about, but it is really cute.

You can almost see the cheesy cauliflower goodness dripping off of his dimply little hands.

We Paid for This?

Since our new apartment is without a bathtub and we have kids, it is necessary to for us to get one. I am sure DB is anxious to get into a tub and out of the kitche sink. Also, AB has a fear of falling down and of the hot water in the shower and it frequently results in a meltdown during shower time.

Two weeks before we moved into our new apartment we ordered a bathtub. It is simple but big enough for us to sit in without having to bend our legs. Like I have metioned earlier, doing rennovations here is slightly more complicated. WE are the contractors and finding someone to do the individual jobs is both challening and risky. So far we have been pretty lucky, but our luck apparently ran out with the bathtub guy. While I was in the capital with DB, KB and AB were at home while the "bathroom" guy "installed" our bathtub. His only job was to prop the tub up on some bricks, cement the bricks in place and build a tile wall around it. Really, we could do this except I figured an expert would be better at it. We were wrong...I absolutely in all serriousness think I could have done a better job than this guy. On the positive side, KB said he was a really nice guy.

Anyhoo. Now we have to pay another guy to come and smash up this wall and build another one. Our bathroom has been this way for about 2 weeks, but it will be worth the wait once we get it done right. Fortunately we have another bathroom to take showers in. It is not exactly a kid friendly bathroom, but right now we are happy to have 2 bathrooms or we would be in trouble.

We have heard a new bathroom guy is coming tomorrow and I have heard good things about him. I am hopeful that this time next week we will be able to take nice warm baths in our lovely new tub.

I really think these pictures give a good dipiction of what I saw when I first walked in our bathroom after returning from the capital. Most homes in this country have exposed water pipes in the bathroom. They are quite ugly, but very practical. It allows for cheap and relatively easy rennovations.

It is like the hill-billies of bathtubs. It is missing one of its front teeth.

Recovered

These pics where taken the evening DB and I returned from his hospital visit in the capital. Sometime while AB was 1 year old she learned that we think it is cute when she gets inside of this bucket and sometimes take pictures of it. She often now climbs into it and says, "take a picture?"

AB was happy to have us home.

DB was happy to see his daddy...

...and other than being a little bit thinner, none of us could tell DB was ill enough for a trip to the capital two days earlier.

Busy Busy

I think it is that time of year when everyone is busy. Almost my entire life spent in the US was as a student, and Fall always seemed a little more overwhelming than the springtime. Somehow as a parent it still seems to be the busiest time of the year. Anyways, we have been busy.

We have spent the last month and a half getting ready to move. Finally on Monday last week we loaded all of our earthly belongings, in this country at least, into a truck for the 1 mile drive to our new apartment. Actually KB had more of a hand in this than me because I was a bit useless. It seems my body has a knack for knowing when I need it to preform the most and instead decides to get sick. A little over a year ago when we began packing up to move and pack to return to the US for 5 months, I caught a beastly cold. Six months later when we actually moved to our new city, I got Mastitis. The day before our move this time, I got Mastitis again. This was my 5th time to get it, and let me tell you it was the worst. It probably did not help that I had already packed all my Advil and I could only find some that had already been expired for 2 years. I just did not seem to have the punch it usually does. The day before our move KB was at the new apartment supervising the installation of our kitchen cabinets, light fixtures and other things, so I was supposed to be at home packing and watching the kids. Fortunately our helper came over and helped me, otherwise I am certain I would have called crying and begging for him to come home and take care of the kids so I could get busy laying and bed being miserable with my aches, chills and fever. Fortunately two days later I felt much better. Thank you Augmentin.

Anyways, we are in our new apartment and I love it! It is so spacious. However, there is still a lot to be done. Our bathtub is not yet installed. None of our closets have doors. Our bathroom sink is has yet to arrive in this city. Air conditioners have not been ordered, nor does our kitchen hot water heater. Several windows do not have curtains. Two bedrooms still do not have wardrobes, and on top of it all, this place is filthy. When Dash stands up from crawling, the knees on his pants are always grey. Apartments are impossible to keep clean here, but they are extra impossible to keep clean when workers are coming and going while doing renovations. I told myself I can only sweep and mop once a day.

On top of all this moving stuff, Dash seemed to be sleeping quite a bit. At first this was welcomed since it gave me the opportunity to get more done. However soon I became concerned something was wrong with him, especially when it seemed all he did was sleep. I even had to wake him to eat, which he did not want to do. After throwing up once I emailed his doctor who recommended we get him to the capital immediately, so at 11pm on Wednesday night I began the frantic search for clothes and toiletries for Dash and I because it seemed the next morning we were going to the capital. Basically it was a long morning, but thanks to the ingenuity of Zhou Mei, Dash and I were safely in the capital by 1pm on Thursday and were seeing a doctor by 2pm.

While examining Dash the doctor asked me several questions about how Dash was doing. When the doctor took off Dash's diaper to check his tummy I noticed his diaper was dry and I had not changed his diaper since 8 that morning. The doctor said he was not sure why Dash was sick but was very dehydrated. For the next 6 hours Dash and I hung out in a hospital room while he received an I.V. At one point he threw up all over himself and me. The hospital gave him a blue gown with purple daises to wear. I had no choice but to keep wearing my vomit clothes (I wore those vomit jeans for 3 days). Dash's poor little hand with the IV was so sad, but he was so weak he did not even have have the strength to mess with it. Ultimately the doctor said it seems the combination of my low milk production from my Mastitis and Dash having some sort of virus combined to make him feel like not eating, caused him to vomit and become very dehydrated which led to him further not want to eat, which led him to become even more dehydrated and so on.

Two days later Dash is almost 100% better. I could not find Pedialite, but he was introduced to apple juice, and oh how he loves it. I alway thought he did not like drinking non-milk drinks, it turns out he just did not like water. He want sweetness. Well my little sweetie is playful and eating again. He gave us a good scare, but we are happy to have him back to normal.

Let me see if I can say this without saying it. We could not make trips to see wonderful doctors like we did with Dash if it was not for the support people give - especially the support given in the month of December. Thanks and please keep it up!

Packing Up

I have been a little absent recently - just giving friend Andy a chance to catch up right? My actual my reason is a lot less altruistic than that. We are moving again. Fortunately this time we are just moving a few blocks. Our cute but extremely tiny apartment is very new, and the city will not turn on our heat this winter because it is less than 40% occupied. Our first winter in this country was essentially without heat and it was record-holding cold winter. I remember exercising just so my feet would get warm. KB and I spent the majority of our time at home wearing 3 layers, laying in bed, and watching movies. Not extremely productive. Anyways, even though our tiny apartment makes us feel claustrophobic and is hilarious when people came over and have to take turn walking around, the ultimate reason we are moving is because we cannot ask our kids to endure a winter here without heat.

Our new apartment is approximately twice the size of our current apartment. I am so excited. In the past I thought size was not a big deal to me, but apparently it is. Also our new apartment is in a better location for getting taxis. Currently we wait up to 1 hour during peek traffic - we have never waited longer than that since we have always quit and returned home after 1 hour. Our new apartment has a view of a mountain, which is really cool. Our new apartment has wonderful natural lighting. Our new apartment has 4 bedrooms! KB will have a place to study in which the can close the door and have less interruptions. Most importantly, it will have heat this winter.

When I was in college I thought I liked moving, but that was not really moving. I was able to move all my belongings in trash bags and laundry baskets - it just not the same. I thought liked moving because it gave me a chance to purge myself of unnecessary things. Unfortunately the things I would like to purge myself of now, i.e. furniture, are too expensive to replace. Therefore it is going to get packed up again and will hopefully survive another move. Moving last time also helped me realize I do not need nice things. I need durable things. Nothing survived our last move undamaged, and I expect the same outcome this time.

Anyways, we are in the process of moving. We are boxing our stuff up and buying stuff like curtains, blinds, wardrobes and lighting fixtures for the new place. The apartments tend to come pretty empty so we are even having to install kitchen cabinets, buy and install air conditioners and hot water heaters, put doors on closets, install a bathtub and finish the floor where the floor is just cement.

Organizing all the renovations to the apartment has been a bit complicated. In the US - I think since I have never actually renovated anything in the US, a contractor is often hired. Here it seems we are the contractor and we are entering into very unfamiliar territory. Without our local friends we would be in over our heads.

Our move date is set for November 14th. I will post pictures of our new place after we get settled in. I am excited and think all of this work will be worth it!

Happy Boy

I love smiling pictures of my baby boy.

This is not actually a smile, but it is just as cute.

What are we going to do if we ever go back to the US and lose easy access to his favorite purple food - Taro?

Hey Parker!!!

AB is facinated by the fact that her cousin, Parker, sent her a real letter. When she first got it, she continually looked at it and kept saying "Parker?" You are a great cousin Parker.

This is what DB did while AB looked at the card. Life is rough.

Big-O-Thanks

Folks in this country get their water primarily one of two ways - have it delivered or have purfication system installed. Most go for the first option since day to day it is cheaper, but in the long run it is more expensive and less convinent. Until recently we had our water delivered. However thanks to generosity my brother-in-law's parents, Joe and Virginia, we have a wonderful purfication installed and is working beautifully! Thanks so much!

I am not sure how but the black bag and the clear plastic bag apparently serve some sort of purpose. I am not sure what, but we are not moving them just to be safe.

Bad Parenting 101

When I walked into the living room one morning and saw this, I knew it was time to start strapping DB into the swing. However this was a couple months ago, and the swing is now gently rocking his friend Caleb to sleep accross town. Good times with the swing.

New Wheels

A month ago KB decided it was time to get AB a bike. He debated on getting her a bike that fits her now or a bike she could grow into...meaning her feet do not reach the pedals yet. Ultimately our desire to not buy another bike for her in a year or two won, and we bought her a bike she can grow into. Unfortunately this bike will not be a hand-me-down for DB. The only bike available was a very girlie pink bike.

The sales people told KB he should pay someone to put it together. However, we felt like it was a rite (or is right?) of passage to spend countless hours putting your kid's bikes together. Therefore KB spent quite a while working on this thing only to find out...

It was missing some important pieces. We could not attach the cute little trunk thing to the back, but more importantly the brakes did not work. The next day KB's teacher called the store to tell them they sold KB a bum bike. They said they did not have any more. KB's teacher told them, in the way that only a native of this country could, that they needed to have a new bike for KB that afternoon and they needed to put it together for KB since he already spent too much time working on the other bike. They agreed. Although it is not really the same bike, and although instead of cute Disney princesses there are weird-o bears on her bike, AB looooves it.

It does have some cute elements, like this "rear view" mirror...

and this cute little bike bell that says exactly what AB feels about her bike.

KB is probably only 1 of 10 people in this city of millions that wears a bike helmet, so you can bet he made sure AB had one as well. He called this is blue steel face, whatever that means.
We bought the bike in the middle of a rainy week. It killed AB that we had to wait to take it out for a spin, but at last we made the inaugural trip. AB was so excited about riding and proud of her helmet. This is just outside of our apartment door and in front of the elevator.

That is real bike ridding seriousness.

And this is what they did for about 10 minutes. Super daddy pulled her around this circle in our courtyard. She did not quite get the concept of how to move the bike herself, and it did not matter anyways since her feet cannot even reach the pedals. This is the same circle she runs around when we take her outside.

This is the lady who mercilessly stares at us every single time we go outside. We go outside at random times, so we do not know how she knows we are outside, but knows... she does. Also, she refuses to talk to us. Some of the people we meet can only speak the local dialect, but with some effort they can usually understand us since we speak the common language. I know this lady has the ability to speak since I have seen her talking to others. Anyways, I figure she either does not understand the common language or has closed her ears to us because talking to her is like talking to a wall. I think I might just start saying silly things to her. If she laughs, then I know she can understand me : )

This is how DB and I spent the time watching AB.

After AB got tired of being rolled around on her bike, she decided to get a good look of herself in the reflective door. She does this routinely when we go outside. Vanity does not have to be taught.

This is DB's favorite pastime, not playing with daddy but sticking things in his mouth. Makes him happy.