On the Road Again

We are heading out today for a few days. We'll actually be in our city for a retreat-which makes it super easy for me to just carry my coffee pot with me. All those parents of little ones knows what a massive undertaking it is to move your family to another location for a few days. I figure with all the stuff I'm already taking for our kids, what's a coffee pot? HEHE. Not sure how Andy will feel about that one!

Unlike my parents, who have 6+ inches of snow, our weather is sunny and in the 70's during the day! Thankfully, EG and Jack are both feeling better. They both have had really yucky colds for about a week and then EG had a fever of 103.5 a couple days ago. She and Jack both have ear infections, I think. We put them on antibiotics and controlled the fever with Tylenol-they both seemed A LOT better yesterday. We've been playing musical beds for the past few nights. Between high fevers and a power outage, we couldn't get a good night's sleep. Last night was our first night in a few days to all sleep in our beds through the night! EG seemed much perkier yesterday and I hoping we are on the road to recovery!!! Hoping our getaway will include some good sleeping, even though we won't be in our own beds, good time with friends, and no more sickness!

LASIK

Before Tuesday, if Andy took off his glasses and stood ten feet from me, this is what it looked like for him: But then he went and did this:These are his post-LASIK surgery protective goggles. Yep, he got LASIK surgery on Tuesday! In my opinion, it's one of the bravest things he's ever done. Several of our friends have gotten it done over the past few years and he's been wanting to do it for a while. Since school is out for the break, it was a great opportunity for him to get it done. He admitted it was pretty scary, but he managed to get up the nerve to go through with it! After a day of mainly resting his eyes and scaring our kids with his spider man goggles, he returned to the doctor. In one eye he now has 20/10 vision and the other is 20/18-both better than normal! Here is what it looks like for him now-standing at the same spot, no glasses, post surgery:

He's been amazed at the results so far. He has to put lots of eye drops in every hour or so for several weeks and he can't go under water for a few weeks. But other than that, he has no side effects! I'm so thankful it went so well!

Jack Talk Thai

Well, Chinese actually, but it's kinda related to Thai. Jack has officially entered the world of human speak. Just in the last couple of weeks, he's gone from mostly babble to repeating words he hears us say. His repertoire is not big, but what is impressive about it is that it includes mostly Chinese words. This boy loves Chinese food and speaks mostly in Chinese. He and EG are way more indigenous than Andy and me. Here's the list of the words he can say:

Mama

Dada

Gou gou (dog)

Jie Jie (sister)

Zai Jian (goodbye)

Ah Oh!

Duo Duo (this is what he calls EG, not really sure what it means-but it's Chinese)

Nai Nai (grandma-this thrills Milk Gmaw and she makes him say it everyday when she delivers our milk!)

Maybe one of the reasons he doesn't say a lot is because HE LOVES his paci. And honestly, he's so content haivng it, I haven't even begun to think about taking it away. And between the other three of us and our ability to run our mouths, it's a miracle Jack can ever get a word in! Way to go Jack!

We are actually going to Thailand in a couple weeks-maybe after our trip Jack will be able to talk Thai!

Spring has Sprung

Ahhhh January! We've had really amazing weather this month. I know it's been really cold at home-so much so that my parents pond froze over-but it's been quite spring-like here! We've had temps up in the 60's most afternoons. We've been spending a lot of time outside. Today, we had a walking picnic. We started dinner with an appetizer of cheese and crackers at home. So amazing! Our city stopped selling regular Ritz crackers but Matt brought some to us from another city and we thoroughly enjoyed them with some cheese! After Andy finished work, we headed out for our next course-drinks. We stopped at the dairy store for yogurt-yep, it's a drink here. I actually love this about China. Drinking yogurt with a straw is really convenient for little ones. After yogurts, we headed to the fruit store, where we picked out some giant, not-too-ripe bananas. We had some water to wash the banana down and we headed home. No dishes, no clean up, and pretty healthy overall.

Speaking of our town, here's a picture you might like. This is one of Jack's Bday toys-a golf cart police car. You pull it back and it rolls and flashes it's lights. I love this toy because we bought in our little town and it's actually a model of the one police car we have in town. These four tough loooking guys cruise the streets in this thing all day. Takes away from the tough look just a little bit.

Walking picnincs and golf cart police cars-the joys of small town life!

Meet Mary

I'd like to introduce you to Mary...

She's been in our lives now for about 2 weeks now. She looks a lot like our little girl Emma Grace but don't be confused. This is NOT Emma Grace, and she will let you know. If you attempt to call her Emma Grace, or sweetie, or honey, or any other name, she will promptly tell, you, "I'm not Emma Grace, or I'm not sweetie, I'm Mary!" To complete the Mary profile, she has changed the name of her Chick Chick to Joseph and her Peanut to Baby Jesus. And when you pray for her, you best pray for Mary, because...you guessed it...she'll promptly interrupt and tell you, "I'm not EG, I'm Mary!"

Sister-In-Law

You might remember we have an arranged marriage in the works for Jackie Boya. Sarah Dean and her Momma (Marianne) came out on New Year's Day so we could work out some of the details. Actually, we had a family swap-Andy went to their house to stay up all night and watch the WVU bowl game and Marianne came out to hang out with me. Sarah is a sweet, happy little girl and Jack and EG both love her. As you can see, the sister-in-law relationship is shaping up nicely!

Marianne and I had a fun time staying up late and talking-just like college days. Unfortunately for Andy, his team didn't win, but he still had a great time!

Oh Christmas Tree

My Christmas Tree is still up. My blog still says Merry Christmas. I'm behind on life in general these days. I've stopped plugging in the lights and have almost forgotten about it but Andy still plugs them in at night. I actually think I'm gonna just leave it up for another week or so. I am having a Christmas party next week, I think. We were supposed to have it before Christmas for some Moms that live in our complex. But then our kiddos got sick and we cancelled it two weeks in a row. I figure they are Chinese and don't really know that much about Christmas, so it won't really matter to them that the party is a few weeks late. I think they will like seeing the tree. At least that's what I tell myself when I feel bad for having not taken it down yet! I plan to leave my blog the same until we take down our tree. That way when my blog changes in March or so, you'll know I finally got around to taking it down!

8:30

For Christmas, Andy gave me mornings off til 8:30 for a whole week! I'm cashing in my gift certificate this morning! That means while he is busy changing Jack's poopy diaper (he has one every single morning when we go in to get him) making breakfast, changing clothes, and getting the day going, I'll be sitting in my bedroom sipping coffee, reading and relaxing.

My sweet Jack has made it a habit to start his day about 6:15 am for the past 13 months of his life. A few months ago, Andy came up with this sneaky little trick to delay his "wake time" til 7 am. When he started crying at 6:15, we gave him a bottle in his bed and he would drift back to sleep til about 7am. Not a permanent solution, but it definitely gave us a little more time to ourselves before 7 am rolled around and EG started to wake up. But those days are over....he now takes his bottle and pops right back up and starts hollering for us to come and get him. Thanks for the morning treat, Mom, NOW GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!! We are now working on a plan to figure out how to get him to sleep til 7am. Got any suggestions?

At least for this one week, I am off from thinking about that issue! So thankful for this gift, Andy! I thought I'd put up a picture of Jackie boy after eating lunch. Cleaning him up after breakfast is a little easier since we don't let him eat rice for breakfast...but Andy still has is work cut out for him!

Friday Nights

For my whole live, I've always loved Fridays. I remember looking forward to watching TGIF every Friday night growing up. And in high school, Fridays were so fun. There was the anticipation of all the fun things the weekend would hold. Whether it was a football game or sleepovers with friends, Friday nights were the best. And in college, my friends and I often had some road trip or some other fun activity planned. When I moved to China, Friday nights were exciting because I often went on dates with Andy, the highlight of the week.

But now...Oh Friday fun, when did you leave me? Tonight as I was eating my dinner of stir-fried veggies, rice, and bean sprouts (which EG thought was spaghetti and delightfully ate a lot), I thought, wow, my life has really changed. First of all, I eat bean sprouts now. And second, my Fridays are a world away from what they used to be. Andy is almost always gone on Friday nights so it's me and the kids. Xiao Li often eats dinner with us, and helps me throw kids in the tub. So thankful for her.

The usual routine includes playing outside, dinner, a bath, and reading. It's so low key is so different from the Friday nights I was used to until kids. I often lay down on the couch from pure exhaustion the minute I get EG in bed. But the good news is that on this Friday night, I had to pry myself away from EG's grip as she gave me a gazillion hugs before bedtime. And now she's snuggling with Joseph (aka Chic Chic) and Jacob/Baby Jesus (aka Peanut). She's been renaming her babies lately so you never know who's gonna show up at bedtime. And Jack-well, I had the privilege of hearing his giggles as I got him lathered up with lotion and into his PJs. He must be getting ready for a growth spurt, cause the boy is packing on the pounds again.

So my Fridays are far from exciting and they aren't really "fun"-sometimes they're just plain hard work. But I am thankful for this season of life with Jack and EG. What will Friday nights be like in 5 years? 10 years? Who knows. Maybe EG and I will be watching re-runs of Full House together and hosting sleepovers for her friends! Or maybe, we'll be attending some sporting event to watch our beast of a son play ball. Who knows. So fun to think about.

Back in the Saddle

I'm home from my three day trip. So fun to get back and see my kiddos. I am positive Jack got heavier while I was gone! Emma Grace and Jack both had a great time while I was gone and their no parents festivities included several movies, lollipops each day, and playdoh! (Thanks Al for the Burger Maker!) No wonder she was so excited when I told her we were leaving! Andy will be home Friday night and I'll be holding down the fort til then. Alisa is coming out with her kids tomorrow night so that will be a fun way to pass the time.

There were many highlights to our time away-great time to relax, several caramel macchiatos, seeing old friends, and some really good input from the class we attended. Back to real life-Jack just woke up from his nap. Gotta Run!

Out of Town

Andy and I are out of town for a few days. He is attending a class and I am joining him for the first few days. So fun. We left on Sunday and had a fun day relaxing before the class started! We watched two movies and ordered room service! I can't tell you the last time I just vegged out for that long! So fun. We watched this awesome 80's movie called Iron Eagle. So good.

We were worried how EG would deal with us leaving for a few days but she was THRILLED when we told her we were leaving. Mainly because she gets to do all kinds of fun stuff with Xiao Li while we are gone. They had a great day yesterday and spent lots of time outside.

I'll be back late Tuesday night and then Andy will be home on Friday. Hope you are doing well!