Arrival

I think this is funny. Jo our helper told us she wanted to help us get to the train station the morning of our trip. We thought, "great!" She showed up at our apartment at 6:30am with a taxi waiting for us. She watched Avril and helped us get loaded. It was awesome. When we arrived at the train station she got out of the taxi and started to help us get inside. Then she helped us through "security" - a metal detector that no one monitors and up to our gate. I thought she was really going above and beyond the call of duty here, but if she was willing to help, I was going to take it.

After a while I asked her what she was going to do while we were out of town. She said she was taking the train to the capital too...I began to get concerned. That was when I also noticed her backpack; she never carries a backpack. I asked her where she would be staying - I was afraid she was going to say "with you." I began to fear a major breakdown in communication. Did we ask her to come with us and not know it? Are we paying for her trip? Fortunately she said in a hotel with her family. Whew! I asked when her what hotel? She said since our hotel was too expensive they would stay elsewhere. I love this culture's bluntness when it comes to money. Soon I noticed it was time board the train but her family was nowhere in sight. Eventually we had to leave her and hope her husband and son showed up before the train left. Fortunately they made it in time.

After arriving in the capital, Jo and her family met up with us after we got off the train. Jo strolled AB through the train station and her husband helped with our big-O suitcase. This was especially helpful since the escalators did not work (or were not turned on, which is very likely), but after living here for more than 3 years, this was expected and did not throw us off.

For reasons I have yet to figure out, we have to scan our tickets to get out of the train station. So, the couple thousand people riding on our train all needed to get through one of the 5 gates. Ironically the little scanners did not like the majority of the tickets. Most people just forced their way though or jumped over the gates. The workers did not care. They stood and watched. However with our stroller it was not possible. Eventually we rolled the thing under one of the gates. Below is a picture of me taking in this situation. In front of me are the gates that will not open, and Jo is in orange trying to get AB through.

After getting through the gates we said bye to Jo and her family. They told us the taxis were too expensive and headed for the subway. We actually think the subway is the best way to travel in this city. However with 2 kids, a stroller and a heavy suitcase, a taxi was for us. Unfortunately it was the choice for a lot of people that day. We got in line and began to realize the outlook was bleak. In the picture you can see a man in orange. He is at the front of the line and almost all of the people in the line were individual riders. We waited for almost 45 minutes for a taxi since the taxis trickled in one by one about 3-4 minutes apart. Our driver did not even want to take us, but our superhero, the taxi line guy, basically told him to have pity on us because we have 2 babies - they still consider AB a baby.

AB being a trooper while waiting in line. This stroller is great for traveling. It is light and has a carrying strap.

That evening we made it to one of our favorite restaurants in the entire country. If any of you come visit us, you too can eat there if you like : )

AB's poor face had a terrible allergic reaction to some misquito bites and then later sent her into a terrible chain of reactions to food she ate but was not previously allergic to. Fortunately we were in the capital and were given some awesome meds that have cleared it up nicely.

The Speedy Train

A week ago, against the advice of most of our local friends, we put our lives in the hands of Asian engineers that have now famously cut corners to build one of the world's fastest built bullet trains ever. We were scared, but alas our desire to not waste our tickets and the need to get to the capital was greater. Somehow we managed to score the best 1st class tickets on the entire train. We were in the last car (we are going backwards about 200 miles an hour) which only seats 5 people. Two of the seats were VIP and the other three were 1st class. Since we did not see the need for Internet connections and a flat screen on an hour and half train ride, we decided we would save the $100 and just ride first class. We generally avoid economy since in economy we get starred at like a monkey at a zoo. They also like to provoke us just as people like to provoke monkeys at a zoo. On the trains there seems to be a distinction between those who have had exposure to foreigners and those who have not, and that distinction is economy and first class.

That red suitcase with the neon strap is our most faithful of all our suitcases. It is a hard Samsonite and it goes everywhere with us. After our disastrous return trip from the US in March. We made a pact - we can only bring one personal bag per person capable of carrying a bag and one suitcase for the entire family. KB even went so far as to forget half of his shirts, you know, for the family. He had to wash his two shirts on this trip.

I looooove our iPad. It has so many great uses, but the greatest by far (in my book) is its ability to keep AB's attention for an entire train ride. Thanks friends for giving it to us!

Folks those are nice red leather seats and smelled like nice new red leather seats. However when we were done with them they were nice red leather seats with crumbs in the seams : )

All in all it was a very nice train ride and we are glad to have survived. However we have been sufficiently scolded by the majority of our friends for taking the train and might just fly next time. It costs almost the same.

My Girl

Here she is. My little girl. I am amazed at how she seemed to transform overnight from my baby girl into a little girl. No longer does she have that huge belly and short legs. Her legs are now long and she is slim everywhere except her head when her hair frows out.

I am still amazed that she has strawberry blond hair that at times looks more golden than anything. She has my eye shape, my nose, my cheeks, my hair texture (fine), my hair line and my extremely pale skin yet people still think she looks more like her daddy. Also, that glare in the picture above - that is a signature look of mine. I practically patented it when I was a little girl.

AB loves to "help" me in the kitchen. Just the other day she emptied half the salt shaker in a pot of soup I was cooking. She is becoming better every week at stirring and has finally learned that hot really is hot. She wants to stand beside me when I wash dishes and bolts to the bathroom whenever she seems me get ready to cook so she can get her stool. She has also learned her stool is handy to snatch freshly cooked items off of the kitchen counter. The other day I walked into the dining/living area to see her eating a pumpkin muffin at the table. She even got a napkin to put the muffin on. She loves to wear her apron and knows it signals she is in work mode.

She has recently fallen for all things princess. I have got to get her some dress-up clothes! She even sat today and watched Cinderella in its entirety just because she wanted to watch a princess. Usually after putting her in a dress she looks at me and says "I'm a princess!"

She is short and skinny. Although she can wear her friend Madeline's 2T shorts, she can still wear her 12 month shorts.

Her curls are crazy. When she bounces on her bouncy moose her curls go up and down; it is really cute. They are great on humid days and clump together nicely. On dry days I have encourage them to come together. She has ridiculous bed-head. It is a tangly rat's nest after any time laying in bed. She knows that doing her hair means we are about to go somewhere. More than once she has proudly walked out of the bathroom with hair gel globed all over her hair as we are getting dressed to leave.

She usually remembers to pee in the potty and NEVER poos in the potty. She waits all day for me to put on her nap time diaper and poos in it. I just cannot seem to break her of the habit.

She likes to get her bowl, spoon and cup when she eats and finds absolute joy in washing her hands. Once she even used about 1/2 a bottle of hand soap in one hand washing. Unfortunately for her she has terrible eczema and all that hand washing has made the skin on her hands and wrists as smooth as sandpaper.

When she watched a movie she insists on having a pillow and blanket. She loves Veggie Tales, Mickey Mouse and Dora. Recently we have watched a couple Disney movies, but I skipped the scary parts and the fighting scenes. Apparently I did not realize Snow White is a weird-o movie, so AB probably only watched like 20 minutes of it since I had to skip the the weird-o and scary stuff.

When someone comes over she tells them "hi" like every 30 seconds.

Much to my dismay, she is a bit of a daredevil. Obviously she does not realize her limits. Sometimes she is very tough and does not cry when she gets hurt. Other times she insists on a bandaid for any red spot she can manage to find on her body. She seems to think the are magic and will take care of anything. I hear I believed this as a child too.

She loves to give her baby brother kisses and bring him toys. She is able to crack him up by just jumping up and down. DB is so attached to her that he starts crying when AB and her daddy wrestle and AB squeals. Her favorite time is when the whole family piles into mommy and daddy's bed. Mommy and DB watch while AB and daddy tickle each other. She does not allow KB and I to hug without squeezing between us with her arms ready for us to pull her up into our embrace. Also, she becomes very protective of me when daddy starts tickling me (Dash just cries). Apparently "getting" mommy is a no no.

AB is bit strong willed. If she sets her mind to something, it is very hard to change it. She does not listen to reason...I realize she is 2. This gets her in a lot of trouble. She must be managed during meal times because she will not try new food on her own. She will also drink too much and not eat anything at all. Her favorite foods are pizza, scrambled eggs, tortillas (that she calls "tillas"), oatmeal, PB&J, cheese, and all things sweet (including fruit).

AB loves swimming. She loves going out in her stroller. She loves to run. She CONSTANTLY talks to us and herself. She enjoys coloring and coloring with us. She prefers to play with us than play with her toys. She loves to be read to. She wants to be part of every part of our day. She wants to clean and cook with me. She does not like my hair in a ponytail and often tries to pull the rubber band out so she can brush it. She cannot wait to brush her teeth with me and give DB a bath. She even helps rub lotion all over him.

Her favorite song is "Live Your Life" by I.T. featuring Rihanna. It is not exactly the type of song want her to listen to, but I liked while I was pregnant with her because it had a catchy beat and now she likes it too. She often says over and over again "I like the de de de de de de de song." That is what she calls it and she even manages to get the beat right. Recently, like this week, she has begun singing with me songs that I have sung to her since birth like Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Sleep Baby Sleep...and other songs.

AB sayings:

Tiny Hinnie (referring to her bottom) - When she has fallen down she says "my tiny hinnie hurts."
Happy Cakes - All things cake
Naked Baby! - She says this will running around without clothes.
Nasty Poo Poo - When she sees me washing the diapers
How 'bout this one? - When she is choosing something
I like that one - When she likes something, and she says it over and over and over again.

DB's Room

DB's room is the pink wallpaper with pink flowers and pink butterfly room. He actually has not slept a night in his room yet since he does not have curtains and the sun rises at 4:30 am. Next week we plan to head to the capital for DB's 6th month injections and to make an Ikea trip. We hope to get some fabric for his curtains there. All the local curtain fabric tends to look like 1980's reject prom dress fabric. He already has a girl room, I just cannot reason giving him girl curtains as well. He still sleeps in his bouncer which fits nicely just beside our bed in our bedroom. I do not think his reflux is completely gone, so until it is gone or he outgrows his bouncer, he will probably be sleeping it. I do not mind though. After seeing how quickly AB has grown-up, I am in no hurry to have him far away from me in his room. I love the baby stage.

Below AB and DB are on the futon. I think futons get a bad rap because this one is pretty darn comfortable. We bought it off of a foreign friend thinking we might use it, but is has become quite handy. Right now it is out of commission though...AB peed on it and I am waiting until I get up the nerve to wash the thing. Washing it not convenient or handy. Taking the cover off and putting it back on is an workout in and of itself. I do not envy future Leslie for having to do it.

Sharing

This house is one of the toys we managed to bring back from the US. AB got kind of bored with it since we apparently forgot to bring the Little People that go along with it, but after being back here for almost 3 months we finally put batteries in it. It is fun again!

By the way, this is our living room - our entire living room. It kind of hinders entertaining more than a couple people at a time, but it definitely falls into the category of cozy. This rug only lasted a couple days in the living room since AB mad-peed on it while in timeout the day after I took this picture. I guess the super white rug will have to wait until she decides peeing on herself is a negative thing.

Standing

Well, he is actually being propped up, but for his ego we will go ahead and say he is standing up. Here big sis is trying to help him, and she has learned the best way to get in a picture is to cuddle up next to her baby brother. She will often go lay or sit next to him and say "take a picture?"

DB's priorities are clearly not on taking a picture, he wants to look at his mommy. Melt my heart!

Over the past couple of weeks, AB has become very interactive with DB. She brings him toys and even tries to turn him over when he is on his tummy. Yesterday I realized she had dragged him across the floor. He is able to rotate his body in circles, but he certainly cannot move 4 feet from where I laid him.

See that cord behind me? It the power cord to our air conditioner. It looks so tacky and safe hanging down like that. We are trying to think of a creative way to fix it.

Yeah!!! He did it! For all of you parents with young kids out there, I am specifically sining the Dora song "We Did It!" in my head...it is so lame and addictive.

Our Cooks

Our helper's name is Zhou Mei. But from here on out on our blog I will just refer to her as Joe. Joe has been with us for about 2 1/2 months. She cooks, cleans and shops for me. I have taught her (or one of our other foreign friend's helpers have taught her) to make bagels, tortillas, crescent rolls, granola, banana muffins, carrot muffins, apple sauce and many other great things. She also prepares my chicken and veggies before she leaves so I can make dinner in a snap. Although she is a very typical Asian woman in that she gives me more unwanted advice in one day than I receive in a month in the US, she is a hard worker and really eases the extra burden of taking care of our home in Asia.

I always feel like I need to explain myself whenever I talk about having a helper...I do not want to sound spoiled. Living overseas is different and living overseas while hoping to maintain our standards of food preparation and cleanliness is quite time consuming. Things get dirtier much faster and it takes longer to clean. We also are short on all those handy cleaning tools and cleansers that are in every single Walmart in the US. Also food preparation is a beast. Our chicken is tough, nothing comes frozen or prepared, and we end up making almost everything from scratch. Things just seems to take longer and at the end of the day without a helper we have neglected our children just to be able to make food and keep our homes clean. Having helpers make it possible to take care of our kids and carry out the other work that we are here to do.

Back to Joe. AB does not understand much of what she says, so she often ends up saying "no" to everything. We are working on AB telling her "I do not understand." However since she is still currently unable to say that in English, it is a stretch for her to say it in another language. One thing that Joe has going for her is the fact that AB looooooves to "help" cook. She like to sit beside the stove while I make dinner, stir when she can and especially loves to help pat out the dough when we make pizza. AB gets excited when Joe starts making lunch. Joe helps her put on her apron and AB gets to work.

Below is a pic of our kitchen...ummm...I did not choose the cabinet decor. We had them boost our countertops (as you can probably see), we installed an oven, put in the wooden table behind Joe and several racks. This is a "one butt" kitchen for sure. We have to take turns getting past each other. Since our apartment is new and not yet 40% occupied, our gas has not been turned on. So until that day we are cooking on a single hot plate. We have made it work.

Air Conditioner Repairman

So our air conditioner was on the fritz this past week. Water was dripping from the inside unit. It being the hot time of the year and all, it took about 5 days for a repair man to make it to our apartment. I was the only one home when our air conditioner was repaired in our old apartment, so I knew what to expect. This was KB's first experience. They did all the work on the inside unit then went into our bedroom (that is lovely pink flower wall paper on our walls folks) tied one end of a rope around one guy and tied the other end around the other guy. Then the daredevil climbed out of our window! We live on 4th floor, but it is technically the 8th floor since all apartment units are actually 2 floors.

Gosh. Does this look like a guy who is ready to save his buddy's life? The daredevil said he never gets scared.

The daredevil ended up hanging out our window a total of 3 times. The second time his buddy just held onto his leg, but the third time KB got in on the action.

Swimming

Getting Things Fixed

Stuff breaks...especially here. Our friends have explained to us that people would prefer to buy cheap and buy often rather than buy good quality and have it forever. This results in two circumstances. First is that it is very difficult to find good quality items. There just is not a demand for it. Secondly, most renters trash their apartments and do not take care of the place, so the landlords buy cheap stuff. Therefore we renters are stuck with stuff is already low on the reliable spectrum, but even lower since we are given worse quality items.

As a side note, our old city relied heavily on manufacturing for foreign companies that most Americans would easily recognize. There were a very limited number of flights everyday, so if we were flying somewhere is was a very good possibility we would be sitting beside some executive from one of these foreign companies. Once KB and I struck up a conversation with a guy who worked for Caterpillar. He told us that they make very good quality equipment to sell in US, but make lesser quality items to be sold in most Asian countries. He said the Asian countries will not buy the better quality items. My Asian friends told us from the time we arrived that foreign companies old sell poor quality items in Asia, but we did not believe them. However we have come to see it is true. Therefore our "investment" items we prefer to buy in the US and bring with us. Too bad I could not pack a clothes dryer in my suitcase.

Back to my story. The same understanding regarding buying cheap also applies to getting things fixed. They would rather fix it cheap and often rather than do it right and a bit more expensive. Since the day we moved into our new apartment, something has leaked in our bathroom. There is a constant puddle of water in our bathroom floor. I quickly gave up on using our bath mat because I was tired of it absorbing the "mystery" water that gathered on the floor. We called it "mystery" water because water regularly leaked from 4 different places in our bathroom, and since it all pooled in the same spot, we did not know where the water came from on any given day. First was the drip from our hot water heater. In most homes this drip is routed into the shower but for some reason was not in our home. This water is the lowest on the nasty spectrum. Second is water from our sink. Rather than use metal pipes under the sink, most Asian home use flexible plastic. Our pipe drips and sometimes completely falls off the bottom of our sink. This is a little higher on the nasty spectrum. Third is the water from the bathtub. Sometimes is backs up while draining and leaks from the pipes through our, apparently not sealed, tile wall. This is a bit higher on the nasty spectrum. The highest was the water that leaked from the bottom of the toilet. This is straight poo and pee water. It was gross, but unfortunately we never knew it if the mystery water was from the toilet, bathtub, sink or hot water heater.

Before having success a grand total of five "plumbers" visited our home to address primarily the bathtub/toilet issue. However, they wanted to witness the water leaking and since the leakage was sporadic, we could not make it leak on command. Also, we have learned that when a plumbing company is called, they send the least trained worker for the first visit. If he does not fix it they send their next most trained worker, and that is how we managed to have 5 plumbers visit our home before a competent one fixed our toilet...our bathtub is still leaking.

The first "plumber" (I use the word loosely) told us it is better to flush our toilet by pouring large amounts of water down it. Basically he did not want to fix the little flushing button. One "plumber" (I still use the word loosely) told us to drain the bathtub for about 30 seconds then wait about 5 minutes and drain it again for 30 seconds, repeating this cycle again until it is empty. This would prevent it from backing up. He expected us to do this every time we drained it. These were the first two "plumbers."

Finally a couple weeks ago we witnessed the water coming out from under the toilet and our landlord was able to make it to our apartment before it stopped oozing out. He finally believed us! He called his own personal plumber who completely removed the toilet and reinstalled it after fixing the problem.

KB watched the whole experience and had a few highlights to share with me. Apparently in the U.S. we usually use wax to create a seal connecting the toilet to the pipe below. Not here. The toilet was just sitting on top of the hole. Everything that fell from the toilet landed on the floor and eventually made its way into the hole in the floor. The only thing preventing the nastiness from making its way into the rest of the bathroom was a silicone seal around the base of the toilet...which was apparently faulty. So, yes it was poo and pee water in our bathroom floor. Also, the plumber touched all sorts of excrement and never once washed his hands, not even when he was finished. Seeing things like this explains why my husband is now a germ-a-phobe.

Although our bathroom floor is still continually wet, at least #1 on the list of nasty moisture in the bathroom is now just leftover bathtub water.

Family Day

At this Very Moment

I am sitting with my girl at the table smelling the brownies that just came out of the oven. Daddy is at a meeting, DB is a sleep so it is just her and me. Sounds like a precious moment right? Let me put it in context. She and I have been sitting at the table for an hour and a half now and she will continue to sit here for another 30 minutes till her bath time unless she decides to finally eat her dinner! Oh, also she peed on herself about 30 minutes ago as a tactic to get out of her chair. Yep, she is still sitting in it. Guess her tactic backfired. Maybe she will think of that when she tries it again tomorrow.

I have had it with her super skinniness. If her body is going to be below the 5th percentile in weight that is fine, but it is not going to be because she does eat anymore. I know the books say that a baby/kid will not starve themselves, but her stage of not eating has gone on long enough. I will win. She will eat, eventually.

I cannot believe I have come to this point with her. As a little girl I remember sitting at the kitchen table at my parent's house for hours for refusing to eat things like squash, zucchini, broccoli, and peas - who wouldn't refuse to eat those veggies? Even to this day I still dislike all of those nasty veggies, except for for broccoli, I like it now. Until I had kids I was convinced that I would not force my kids to eat their food. I did not feel it helped me in learning to like those veggies, and kids have more sensitive taste buds that adults do. However, something must be done. This is no longer about her just eating a small select group of food, it is about the girl's health. I have tried every thing I can think of. This is my last resort, and must MUST work! Also, I am in it for the long haul. I am willing to commit to letting her sit in her chair everyday if need be.

I am very confused, because with AB we are not talking about nasty peas or horrible pimento cheese, she is not eating Mexican cornbread casserole, lasagna, and (the horror) grilled cheese sandwiches. Seriously something must be wrong with her. If it was up to AB she would sustain on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, scrambled eggs, pizza, bananas, oatmeal, tortillas, milk and anything sweet. Notice there is nothing green or animal in that list.

Anyways, other than her blue eyes, strawberry blond hair, and her feet, she is quite similar to me...demeanor and all. It is payback right? Are my parents laughing somewhere?

Here are some pics from happier times, yesterday. She is dressed up for our Friday night fellowship. I kept saving this dress for something special, but I realized that Friday nights are as special as they get here and if I keep waiting, this dress will be too small before I know it.

This has become her favorite face to make for the camera recently. I don't get it but at least it is an expression rather than the bank face she used to make.

Strangely, she closed her eyes on purpose for this one.

What are the they doing?

What keeps two kids (the bigger one at least...the little one thankfully still cannot move around) still for 30 minutes?

VEGGIE TALES!!!

Outside

These pictures were taken in the courtyard outside of our apartment buildings. We try to let AB get out once a day so she can run around.

See this? This is how most interactions between AB and the local kids go. Sometimes they will come up and touch her or put their faces a couple inches from AB's face. It freaks her out.

Our apartment building is one of 26 identical golden apartment buildings in a massive apartment complex. It is still under construction. It is going to be huge. Our building is the one just behind KB in this picture.

Bath time

AB loves bath time and now that she seems to either have an accident or falls in the dirt at least once a day, bath time is no longer every other day. It is mandatory everyday, but it does not bother her one bit.