The Newtons

Baby Boy

2012-01-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

There's This Boy Who Stole My

❤

He Calls Me Mom

I've seen this saying around and never understood it till our little boy was born. He's such a sweetie and we're going to love getting to know him.

1 Week Old!

2012-01-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

Our little James has already been with us for 1 week. It has been heavenly to have someone so sweet in our presence. Like most newborns, he has done a lot of sleeping and eating. I think he is already doing very well with nursing. He is so calm and rarely cries.

I love all the faces babies make when they're stretching....

So peaceful!

James got his first bath. Jimmy did a great job!

I was the "Ali-holder" and photographer.

This girl is So in love with her brother! I love how excited she gets anytime he makes a peep! The first couple days she would run over to where he was, wait a second and then look slightly disappointed to see that he was still sleeping.

She is already dressing him up.

Jammie time!

Reading James a book.

And while we're on the topic of Mary Alice- this girl is TOO MUCH! She is such a character!

Her new thing is putting the swim cap on...

then walking around the apartment laughing like this.

She does not like things in her hair. In fact, she doesn't like anyone to have anything in their hair. She picks out my hair things all the time. So I was so surprised today that she not only wanted something in her hair, but she wanted all her bows and headbands on at the same time!

She can work the iPad pretty well. Kids these days!

This is her face when she gets to talk to daddy on the phone. She just beams the whole time! I love to watch her chat with him.
So, we made it through the first week. We are glad we made it through- Jimmy had a really hard week at school with classes and finals, I was alone with 2 kids for the first time (with LOTS of help from my friends here in the building and from church), Ali was learning to share the center of the universe, and James was learning how to survive in this world. At some points during the day I thought to myself, "This is it, I'm a 2-kid kind of mom.....and who even let me have this many?" But it was a great week and I loved spending it with my two little ones. Now we are looking forward to the next week when daddy will be home for Chinese New Year!

Our Chinese Birthing Experience

2012-01-15T03:08:00.003-08:00

I'm not sure how to begin, so I'll just begin with the morning of Friday the 13th. We dropped Ali off at a friend's apartment in our building around 8:00 am. They have a little girl who is 1 month younger than Ali and we play with them regularly so I thought she would be comfortable with them. It was so hard leaving her. I started crying before we even left our apartment and couldn't stop until we were in the taxi. It was a busy time of morning, plus a lot of students were trying to catch taxis to go to school so it took us about 10 minutes to get one.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 am and our doctor and nurse were waiting for us.

Here is our sweet nurse, Clean Chen. She was so perfect! I love her!

They gave me a Hello Kitty gown to change into. So Chinese, I love it!

This is the only picture we have of our doctor for now. She had to run to deliver another baby as soon as James was born.

So, here's the story. I will try not to add too many details.

The doctor broke my water sometime between 8:45 and 9:00 am. The nurse monitored my contractions for about an hour. At about 10 am she started me on pitocin. By 11 am I was uncomfortable enough to want an epidural. I didn't really know how quickly this was all going to happen so I planned on settling in for a few hours. The nurses were saying he would be here by lunch time but that seemed so unreal to me after waiting 19 hours to see Mary Alice. I thought he'd be born by 5 pm at the earliest. I got the epidural, but I'm not sure I got an epidural. I mean, I know what it was like last time, and it did not have the same effect. With Ali, I had to have Jimmy move my legs for me. This time only my left leg got slightly tingly for about 30 minutes. I didn't feel the contractions as much but I felt everything below my hipbones. By 11:30 I was dilated to a 7 and the nurse called Dr. Xu. Dr. Xu got to the hospital about 15 minutes later. And stuck her hand in to feel how things were going. It must have been good because she called out something in Chinese and the whole room turned into a circus. Equipment was being wheeled in, my doctor suited up, they pulled handles up from the sides of my bed and foot plate thingys from the end. They slipped each foot into a cloth that went up to my knees, stuck my legs on the foot plates, told me to hold the handles, hold my breath and push. I had what seemed like 10 people yelling commands at me in broken English and then the counting started- "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR...." with high pitched, Chinese accents. I couldn't feel the contractions very well but I felt all the pressure! I was pushing and there was A LOT of pain! I kept pushing and I didn't know what was going on except that it hurt so bad and I couldn't do it anymore. It seemed crazy! I knew I needed to push, because no one could do it for me, but I couldn't talk myself into doing it anymore. The head was just stuck and wasn't coming out. It was burning so much and I didn't know what to do. I was asking the doctor what to do and asking her to please help me. They just kept yelling at me to hold my breath and push. I was at the end of my rope and I just screamed and pushed. I screamed because it hurt, and I thought I was going to die, and I felt helpless. I could feel a little release from the pain as his head came out, then I pushed again and the rest of his body came out. It was over! Relief doesn't describe how I felt!

My face looks worried in the picture below because I was. Those 20 minutes before he was born were so crazy and as soon as he was born they quickly asked/shouted if I wanted to hold him right away. I said yes and they plopped him onto my chest. He hadn't even started crying yet and I had no idea what was going on. One of the nurses was rubbing him but he still wasn't doing anything. I told the doctor that I couldn't tell if he was breathing and she waved her hand at me. I didn't know what that meant- I guess it was supposed to mean that he was fine. So the pediatrician took him and he started to cry. I was relieved and started trying to calm down and process what had just happened. If we were at home I think the doctor would have done a little snip and the baby would have been out 10 minutes earlier. At the time I would have loved the snip, but I only required 1 stitch and my recovery is going to be so much quicker because of it.
As I look back on it, it was a great experience. It was hard, but it all happened as it should and overall it was very good. We have our little James and we love everything about him!

Here is a collection of photos that we took in the hospital.
They full on bathe the babies here. In the states, at least in Houston, they don't get the babies all wet until the umbilical cord falls off so this was new for us. Note: James HATED his baths.

Some of the pediatricians and nurses. My favorite was the pediatrician on the far right. She was so cute and sweet.

I love this sweet daddy! The only thing better than seeing him with 1 child is seeing him with 2!

James' little tag that they put on his bassinet.

Besides me suffering in the bed, you can see some of the equipment. Looks the same as home.

Was there not enough table room or do they always prefer weighing the babies on the microwave? I guess I could have moved the water bottle.

Sweetness!

The first meal they brought me. This is "pizza". Crunchy crust with slices of cheese semi-melted on top. We ate the whole thing and it actually tasted good by the end. We must have been hungry.

It was a crazy whirlwind of a delivery but the hospital stay was very relaxing and peaceful. No one came in to bother us from the hours of 8 pm to 7 am. It was awesome and we got so much rest! I loved the nurses. They were helpful, but not overbearing. This really surprised us because we're used to being malled anytime our child/children are in the same location as a Chinese person. The bathroom was not super clean. I won't go into detail but there were traces of the last patient. The bed was the most comfortable thing I've slept in since we got here!

So that's that. We're home now, and it's all a memory.... and a beautiful, sleeping baby laying next to me.

Ali Meets James

2012-01-14T15:20:00.001-08:00

We've been waiting with anticipation to see how Ali would respond to James. It went so well and I'm relieved that she loves him so much. I was in my bed and James was in the bassinet next to me when Jimmy brought Ali in. She hadn't seen me since that morning and when she saw my face she smiled and wanted to come onto the bed with me. Before she reached the bed she looked up and spotted James. That was her new target. She pointed and said, "Baby". As soon as her feet touched the bed she crawled over and pulled on the side of the bassinet to get a better look. It was love at first sight! She likes babies but she usually isn't as interested in them as she was with James. We've been talking about him for months and it's almost like she understood who he was. We can say, "Where's James?" and she points at him or waves at him.

We put them together and she was so happy and cuddly with him. He looks slightly terrified. He might be right in feeling a little scared.

Then the kisses started. I don't remember if we even told her to kiss him before she laid one on him. Mouth open, of course. I'm hoping that mouth doesn't clamp down into a bite one of these times.

And then it was making sure he had all the right facial features- eyes, nose, mouth, ears. She LOVED looking at his feet and kept pulling his blanket up to look at them.

This is the day Ali met James and it went better than I imagined it would. I can't wait to watch these two grow up together and welcome more siblings into the family as time goes on. I love them and love that they love each other.

And they're already sharing so nicely! He let Ali lay in his bassinet and she was trying to share her snacks with him all day.

Welcome James!

2012-01-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

James was born on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:05 pm in Shanghai, China. He weighed 3.985 kilos and was 52 cm long (8.7 pounds and 20 inches). We are so grateful that he is here safe and healthy! We all love him so much and can't stop kissing his sweet face!

The First Week of the Year

2012-01-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

(Love the black Chinese shoes!)

It has been a lovely week. It flew by and was filled with fun times and new discoveries. We just finished enjoying Saturday together.

We visited our new-found fruit market.

I love this one so much more than the other dark, damp place we used to go to.

Jimmy had to pick up something at the hardware store. This is not one aisle of the "hardware store", it is the whole store. They have so much random stuff crammed into these places.

We stopped in to Jiadeli to buy some eggs and paused at the meat counter. Scary.

I like to play a little game called "how many animals can I identify?".

One of the wives found a park not far from our place. Actually it's just down the street and around the corner from the new Jiadeli that we go to so we stopped by on our way to the store. As Ali touched these (DIRTY, GERM-INFESTED) X's and O's Jimmy said, "This would not have happened two months ago." So true. I would have never stopped at this park unless I sanitized it first. Oh, how I'm growing and changing!

She liked all the slides, but liked them even more if she could sit on Jimmy's lap. She not exactly a thrill seeker yet. I think she gets that from me. I always say I'm allergic to adrenaline.
Before we moved here we read an article about split pants. Chinese babies and children wear these split pants instead of diapers. They say that the babies are potty trained before they're 6 months old. You can see people holding children over trashcans and anywhere really. So we caught a little peek of this kid's split pants. Which reminds me, I need to put Ali's pants in the wash since she was going down the same slide as this kid's private parts.
Before school started we went to Yuyuan Garden, a place we went during our first month here. We wanted to pick up a red Chinese lantern for Chinese New Year. All of the shops were incredible! We LOVE our lantern and can't wait to hang it!
We've posted several pictures of the random carts that drive around town filled with cardboard and styrofoam. They also have carts that are filled with fruit...
and DVDs. This is the DVD cart that parks outside our apartment at random times during the day. We've bought "several" of these but I'm surprised at my serious self control since technically I could buy them whenever I want (for only 75¢).

They actually use these ladders:

Daddy must have been tired... but that doesn't explain why he's snuggling with the bear and the lamb. Cute!
This is a photo from New Year's Eve. We went to a friend's house for dinner but since everyone there had kids the party ended around 10 pm. Ali fell asleep on the bus on the way home and Jimmy and I hung out till midnight and watched the fireworks out our window. Since we're so high up, the fireworks were right at eye level for us. It was a pretty fun thing to see. January 1st isn't that big of a deal here but Chinese New Year is HUGE. It's a one week celebration and they set off fireworks around the clock all week!
This is proof that children are watching everything we do! Ali picked up my deodorant, pulled her shirt up and tried to put it on. I didn't even know she was watching stuff like this. Children are so precious and we have to be so careful about what we say and do. This also helped me realize that she could be learning useful things like her ABCs and scripture stories.... and how to put on deodorant I guess.
I love to see what things Jimmy comes up with. He's so creative and random. The perfect combination for Ali.

New Year, New Me?

2012-01-02T04:29:00.001-08:00

Something miraculous has happened over the past few weeks.

I have found myself enjoying life.

*gasp*

Enjoying life in China.

*double gasp*

It all started when we went to the newly-discovered, closer Jiadeli. It's several blocks closer than the one we have been going to for months. And it's better in other ways too. The veggies are fresher, the eggs don't run out before noon, the store has more inventory, it plays catchy tunes and I think they're pumping happy gas through the air vents cause I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was in there.

The new apartment has something to do with it too. It's like moving up to the top floor (33rd) of our building lifted our spirits and twisted up the ends of our lips into a smile. (pictures to come... of the apartment, not our lips... but maybe those too.)

My super cute husband and little girl have a lot to do with it. I love being with them! I love watching Ali entertain us with her silliness and being able to look over and laugh with Jimmy. There's nothing better.

Life is just good. Jimmy said that December was a month of acceptance for me. I think he's right. I think I accepted where I am and gave up the dream of where I thought I was going. Unmet expectations are always a party pooper.

So here's to a new year with a silver lining and good times ahead.

The only other explanation for the new me is that Jimmy found a chocolate bar at Tesco for 2.9 rmb!!! My knight in shining armor! Until now the only "cheap" chocolate that we could find was an 8 rmb bar at IKEA.

Is it the chocolate? Is it the year of the dragon approaching? Is it the mood swings of a pregnant lady? Whatever it is, it feels good to be alive.... in China.

Heaven!

2011-12-29T04:12:00.000-08:00

Heaven, I'm in heaven!

I've had Jimmy home for almost 2 weeks and it has been heavenly! Yes, I'm pretty sure this is what heaven is going to be like; spending time together as a family and a peaceful atmosphere. I'm so happy I have a few more days of Jimmyness and that he has a break for Chinese New Year... at which point we will be a family of 4 instead of just 3!

The miracle of all of this? I was still in China, while in heaven.

The hotel next to us is a sister hotel of the one we live in- the point is that they allow us to use their swimming pool. We went swimming tonight and it was so fun. Ali thought the pool was too cold but she liked the hot tub.

This hotel requires us to wear swim caps. Besides having no right to look so cute in his swim cap, Jimmy was the only one who enjoyed wearing his. This is Ali's reaction to us trying to put hers on.

She was loving the hot tub. It wasn't that hot. More like a warm bath tub.

We managed to snap a photo of Ali wearing Daddy's swim cap.

We were out for a walk yesterday and Ali fell asleep. We decided to grab a drink at a popular drink shop.
They make these drinks and then cover them with plastic. You don't pull back the plastic to drink it, you stab the straw into the top. The one we got was delicious and chocolately which is not typical of what people here order. Their drinks usual come with a lot thicker straws because they order BEAN DRINKS! Yes, liquid with whole beans in the bottom and as they are drinking their drink, they sip beans up through their straw! It's just pretty gross and not appetizing to watch.

Another thing that made this week feel like heaven? We bought cheddar cheese!!!!! But we're still in China so when I say we bought cheddar cheese, I mean that we sold our right arms to be able to buy the cheese. It was so worth it!

We bought these items on the table for $100. You never want to spend that much on some cheese, pasta, peanut butter and chicken but it was our Christmas present.

I mention we were still in China, even though we were in heaven, so we still got to see delicious hanging creatures at the market.

Gross and unbelievable that someone is gnawing on one of these creatures at their kitchen table right now.

Jimmy got a photo of these TCMS shoes at TESCO, not to be confused with TOMS.

And this little outdoor set up is where you would go if you needed a new tire or any repairs for your bike. This guy usually has business but he's currently taking advantage of the down time by taking a little nap.

A billion pictures!

2011-12-26T03:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over and now we're just waiting for our little boy to arrive! He's due in less than 3 weeks! Jimmy's Chinese classmates have told him that it would be better for our little boy to be born after Chinese New Year so that he can be born in the year of the dragon instead of the year of the rabbit. I'm not sure how I feel about keeping him in my belly for an extra week, but he would be starting off on the right foot as a dragon instead of a bunny!

It's been chilly outside and we take any opportunity to help Ali learn to like her hat. She looks so cute!

One of the student's parents came from Italy to visit him for Christmas. They invited us over for an amazing Italian meal. They are some of the nicest people we have ever met and we enjoyed every minute being with them. At one point I ran upstairs with Ali to change her diaper and when I was met by the first Chinese person in the hallway I had to blink a couple times to remember that I was in China. We had somehow transported to Italy for the afternoon and it was hard to come back!

Ali loves these little rides..... but she doesn't like to ride them! She only likes them when they're not moving. Great deal for us! It doesn't cost us a thing to watch her laugh and enjoy just sitting on them.

These next two photos are for a certain family member of mine. I won't name any names but it's you, Cory. It turns out our kids come out Apple babies. There's nothing we can do about it. Hehehe...

We were on our way to church in a taxi last week and Ali was unusually tired. It was fun watching her fall asleep.

All ready for church- cutie!

We moved apartments last weekend. We stayed in the same building but moved into a two bedroom. It is so great! We all love the new place. All last week Ali would cry any time we left. She just loves all the different rooms and all the space to dance and run around in... and we love that she is in her own room! She liked riding in the luggage cart!
I love when she sees her pretty skirts and wants to put them on. She will spin and twirl. It's adorable!
They have a lot of different varieties of these "little oranges". I think they have more than we do back home and they are SOOOOO good! No lie- Ali eats about 10 a day.

Being cute-

And of course I have to include some recent pictures of the neighborhood. This little boy was sitting on the side walk playing on an upside down stool.

Ladies at the market buying buttons.

The eel-things may not look that big but they were HUGE! Uncomfortably huge.
Do they not look like the creatures that work for Ursula in the Little Mermaid? EW!!!
This hanging meat is on the walk home from my doctor's office. I can pick some up for dinner next time I have an appointment.
There are so many bikes and scooters on the roads and parked on the sidewalks. You consider yourself lucky if yours is still there when you get back. We know of a girl who got three bikes stolen during the first month she moved to Shanghai and a branch member had his bike stolen the first time he parked it at the metro station.

This is also in our neighborhood.

Thank goodness!

They sell SO many different kinds of eggs here!!! We usually buy two different kinds. I have no idea what they are and I'm not 100% sure they both come from chickens but we haven't died or gotten sick yet so we just keep buying them. I really like getting these because they have a cool stamp on them. Silly reason to buy an egg I guess- I just hope it's not an eel egg or something crazy like that!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T05:55:00.000-08:00

"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more." -The Grinch

Ali is asleep and the night is winding down for us too. It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and almost gone. This morning I was using the word "flop" to describe our Christmas but it really wasn't a flop. Maybe compared to magazines and check lists it was, but as far as what's most important, it wasn't a flop at all. It doesn't matter that our tree was only 3 feet tall and leaning completely to the right, it doesn't matter than we had zero other decorations in our house and that we didn't have any stockings. What matters is that we were together and we enjoyed the holiday season as a family.

We tried to soak it all in and we were grateful for each Christmas event that we were invited to. It seems like when you're in a place where Christmas isn't celebrated, there are even more events to go to.

We attended the branch Christmas party:

Yes, we were Mary and Joseph. Oh, the perks of being pregnant (or having a newborn) at Christmas time. And Ali was one of the visitors that came to worship the baby Jesus.

We also went to a Christmas party planned by Jimmy's school:

We loved the Chinese Santa! He's actually a Hult employee. Ali was NOT into Santa this year. She does a really cute "Ho, Ho, Ho", she loved him in her Christmas books and from far away, but she got really tense when we got close to him.

Several of our friends from church invited us to their houses for pre-Christmas and Christmas dinners. We cannot believe how nice everyone was to invite us into their homes to share Christmas with them! The food was delicious and the company was wonderful!

It was fun to see Ali play with her new presents on Christmas morning.

She totally didn't understand why she was getting them but that will come with time. We just enjoyed the simplicity of this Christmas.

Life Recently

2011-12-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

First, some random neighborhood happenings. Someone on our street is moving:

Gets me every time!

Anyway- a few months ago I posted about how Ali and I walk to a nearby store to pick up our milk, eggs, etc. Here is the store- Jiadeli A fellow student tipped Jimmy off to a vegetable market that is just across the street from Jiadeli. I was so excited because we go in one direction for the milk/eggs run and then in the other direction for our fruit and veggies. For the sake of the Ali I split these errands up into two different days, so the opportunity to get them all done in one area was great news. One day, after going to Jiadeli we hopped across the street to check out the new-found market. Oh wow.... I could tell immediately that we would not be shopping here. Below you can see the veggies displayed on the blue bags with a huge pile of garbage piled up behind them.

Here is a closer look. Those are some green onions or something on the blue bag and then the garbage begins. My jaw just dropped. Seriously there was so much garbage and people were just bagging up their veggies like they were picking them out of the garden! I wouldn't doubt it if the veggies we buy come from a similar situation before they wind up on the table where we shop, but I would have a hard time sifting through garbage to get to them. Most things that you want to buy are found at a "market". There are children's markets, art markets, fruit markets, veggie markets, etc. When it is a market that has fruit, veggies and meat/fish you call it a wet market. That's what this market is. We saw many other appetizing things for sale here.

Tubs of crabs:

Live chickens:

They take them out, weigh and kill them and even scrap the feathers for you.

There are so many fish and water creatures here that I've never seen before and I guess people are eating them. You see people walking home all the time with bloody fish in plastic bags.

I posted a little about our Thanksgiving but I never mentioned the fact that we went to two other Thanksgiving dinners! Since it's not a holiday here, not everyone was able to celebrate on Thursday because of work. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to a friend's house for our second Thanksgiving dinner. He works for the consulate and I visit teach her and their family is pretty spectacular- such nice people and three very sweet children. Their little boy, Jonah, is two months younger than Ali and the two of them are pretty cute together. Jonah has an older sister who is 8 and she is so great with Ali. She took such good care of her all night and even plays with her on Sundays. She is such a sweet, responsible little person. We love her.

Our third and final Thanksgiving dinner was the next day, Sunday. The host family is amazing. They have been in China for 18 years! (I cannot imagine!) They have 5 children and Ali loves them!

The young single adults also came to dinner so this is a photo of the family with the YSA.

Her BFF is this little guy, Jed. They are two peas in a pod and we love Jed! I wish we could bring him home with us. She is so entertained by him and he just loves her too. This picture of the two of them is too cute!

He doesn't even care that she is holding a fork and that his life could be in danger.

Staying in this one bedroom apartment would not be possible without the help of one amazing website. It's called Taobao.com and it has been a lifesaver. I have ordered a few (or according to Jimmy, too many... hehehe) toys on here to keep Ali entertained. Before we got here I hadn't bought even one toy for her. She received some from grandparents and other family members but we spent so much time outside so she didn't need a lot.

The cool thing about Taobao it is that the toys are SOOOO cheap! Here she is sitting on her inflatable chair. I think it was $3 or something like that. The other cool things is that shipping is usually $1 and it get's to you by the next day or two. We just ordered a couple things for her Christmas and one of the items got to us 12 hours after ordering it. Other favorites that we have ordered are a shopping cart with plastic fruit for $5 and 100 plastic balls (like the McDonald's play place) for $3. Even though I'd rather be outside playing with her (and so would she), it's fun seeing what cheap stuff we can get. They have EVERYTHING on there! The only trick is getting the pages to translate, since it's all in Chinese, and trying to put in the right characters to find what you want. On a slight side note, makeup here is very expensive. They keep the cheap brands like Cover Girl and Mabeline behind a counter like it's Mac. The cheap foundation that is usually $5 at home is at least $15 dollars here. I didn't bring any extra makeup because I had no idea how expensive it would be. I found some foundation for about $10 on Taobao and decided to order it since it was the cheapest I had seen. When I got it, it looked fine but when I put it on I almost died. The smell was SOOOO bad! It was a mix between garbage and an old person. Not pleasant and not something you want to put on your face. I can't decide if it is homemade stuff that they put in a bottle or just really expired. Either way, it's gross. So we are staying away from anything besides cheap toys. We just got a few of her Christmas toys that we ordered and I'm SO excited to give them to her. I'm glad we didn't getting them sooner or I wouldn't have been able to keep them from her!

Only Child

2011-12-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

This is the last month, for the rest of our lives, when we will only have one child! I can't believe Ali will be a big sister in about 30 days. She is getting so big and grown up already! It seems like she has a new tooth every week! Here she is feeding her baby.

The baby must not have been eating well from the spoon so she thought she'd take the baby to the food instead. Clever! I'll have to remember this technique.

I got a little Christmas tree a few weeks ago and she enjoyed decorating and undecorating it.

This is how the ornaments ended up. All in one location. So cute! She's a natural decorator for sure!

She has been so good at helping mommy clean. She saw me dusting and had to have her own rag. Now when she gets her hands on a tissue or wipe she will go around cleaning things.

And since that photo highlights her curls, here is another close-up. Her hair is so pretty and soft! It is getting curlier and curlier as it gets longer.

And since the photo also highlights her cuteness, here is another close-up!

Other cute factoids:
*When you ask her to do something and she doesn't want to do it she will squat down. I think she learned that from bath time. I had mentioned before that she likes to stand in the bath and we will go for her towel to get her out and then she'll squat. It's pretty funny and cute!
*She still LOVES to play with other kids and we LOOOOVE the older kids in our branch! Several of them have become such good friends to Ali and they play so well with her and take such good care of her. It's nice that she's able to go off and play with kids now! Great break for mommy and daddy! I can't wait till she can go to nursery... and neither can she!

*We are talking a lot about the new baby and showing her my belly and she has become obsessed with belly buttons! She has to check on hers about every 5 minutes throughout the day. I'm glad she found hers because mine was getting sore from all the poking!

A Baby Shower!

2011-12-02T05:19:00.001-08:00

I got a call a few weeks ago asking if I was busy on November 30th because the ladies from church wanted to throw me a baby shower. I was so surprised and excited! Everyone here is so nice and does so much for everyone. Another girl is due in 2 weeks so it was a combine shower.

(They had that documentary-type movie called Babies playing behind us. It's a very interesting movie.)

Some of the branch ladies.

Beautiful, yummy, American-tasting food!!!

Let me just say, it was an amazing evening!!! I would just fill the rest of the page with exclamation points if I felt that it would get the message across. I would still be talking Jimmy's ear off about every detail if I wasn't able tell that by the next morning he was already sick of hearing about it.

First of all, it was at one of the sister's apartments and she LIVES AT THE RITZ CARLTON!!! Did I feel like I was in Shanghai??? NO! At least not in the Shanghai I know. I felt like I was at the Ritz! And I was! And I never wanted to leave. I almost didn't. We got there at 6 pm and I didn't get home till 11 pm. I wanted to crawl into one of her soft, fluffy, comfy beds and not come out till next year. The view was amazing, the food was amazing, and the decor in this apartment was out of a magazine. This sister knows how to shop Shanghai and live Shanghai. This is such an interesting place. In the sates, you can live pretty comfortably on not very much money. But transfer that amount of money here and you live like us and it's not very comfy. We are aware that there are people in this city living really nice lives, but it's very easy to forget unless you get to step into it for a couple hours. If you have extra money, living here could be amazing. This sister knows the best places to go. She has been collecting furniture and decor and getting a steal of a deal. You could never find this stuff back home for the price she is paying. She is getting art work painted and framed for SO cheap! I'm talking big, beautiful frames made for $15. These frames would cost hundreds of dollars back home...... um, so I'm getting carried away. This is about the time that Jimmy looked at me and just said, "Honey." I knew what he meant. But I'm just so amazed at how "the others" live. Not jealous, because I realize we're in totally different periods in our lives, but just amazed.... and wouldn't turn down an invitation to go live with one of them. Hehehe!

The point is, I had a lovely baby shower (and it doesn't hurt that it was at the RITZ!!!). I am so grateful to everyone who came and all the gifts we received for Baby Boy. We're so lucky to be in such a nice branch!

I was walking around snapping pictures of her apartment like a dork and then I realized that it was weird of me to be doing that so I stopped.

Tis the Season!

2011-12-02T04:31:00.000-08:00

Growing up, food was always a huge part of the holidays. My mother is the most amazing cook and baker on the planet. Everything she makes is delicious. While I may not have inherited her cooking talent, I am very fond of baking and it just isn't the holidays without baking! I was a little worried that we were coming into the Christmas season and I wasn't going to have an oven to make yummy treats for us and our friends and neighbors. However, a girl in our branch moved back to America yesterday and she gave us her oven! Merry Christmas to us!

I know you're thinking to yourself that this looks like the Easy-Bake-Oven you got when you were 10, at least that's what Cory and Rachelle said when they saw it today. I have to agree. And if I had any of those nifty little packs that the Easy-Bake-Ovens came with, I would totally feel like I was 10 again. But these are pumpkin muffins. And when I say pumpkin muffins I mean from scratch, pumpkin muffins. There's no open the can of pumpkin puree. You have to buy the pumpkin and then bake it, and then smash it and then make your muffins. It is pretty fun making everything from scratch. My mom always made everything from scratch and I always thought I would too but I really haven't done much of that in my adult years. It's just too easy to buy a can of this and a box of that and throw it all together to make dinner. Being here, if you want to eat it, you have to find a way to make it from scratch, go without, or be super rich so you can buy all your food from the imported stores. 1 small box of pancake mix is $10! But I make my own dry pancake mix and just add the eggs and milk when we want pancakes. I also make my own spaghetti sauce (not a big deal to most people but I never took the time before) and we're going to be making a lot more of that since we're so excited to eat pizza!! Good thing I switched doctors! If Dr. Jia thought I was big before, she should see me in 6 more weeks after I've been baking my little heart out! Anyway, here's our little pumpkin starting in on her second muffin. This girl loves her a muffin!

My two sweeties eating muffins for breakfast.

In other news, Ali has discovered that pen writes on skin. It was a fun morning of writing on Mommy, herself and then all over the duvet cover.

Doesn't she look like a little person who just got caught? So guilty, yet so cute!

When I saw what she had done to the duvet cover I got down on the ground at her level and pointed to the bed and said, "No, no, Ali. Only draw on paper." Then I just kept looking at her to see what she would do. We had a staring contest for a few seconds and then this little grin crept onto her face and she giggled. I don't know if she really understood that she was in trouble and it was so cute so I couldn't help but giggle too. I love this girl!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

One of the saddest things about living in a foreign country is not being home during the holidays. I was afraid that we wouldn't get to enjoy any of the thanksgiving festivities but there were several activities organized by American students. We visited Jimmy on campus for some pumpkin pie and apple cider. Is this not the cutest?!

Ali loved the first piece she ate but them decided it was just the whipped cream she liked.

Here are three of the Hult kiddos: Aisha (from Brazil), Pablo (from Columbia) and Ali.

Ali made a hand turkey with daddy.

After enjoying our Thanksgiving treats, we went with two other students and their wives to get some lunch. The restaurant was a couple blocks away on this street:

This lady is from the restaurant next door and here she is rinsing her noodles... with a hose, on the sidewalk. Isn't it amazing how they do things here? It's not exactly appetizing to see how the food is prepared and the dishes are washed. We don't eat out much but it was a special occasion. Hehe.

We ordered wonton soup. It wasn't bad but we both agreed that we wouldn't eat it every day.

Below is the couple from Columbia (Pablo's parents). They are really nice people.

One of the students organized thanksgiving dinner at a nearby restaurant/pub. We paid 100 rmb for all you can eat dinner and luckily we were some of the first few in line because about half way through the line they ran out of most of the food. They replaced the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes with french fries but kept the turkey coming. Ali loved the food and ate almost a whole plate by herself!
We have so much to be thankful for. It seems that when you have the least, you find more reasons to be thankful. Ever since we moved here, I have been so grateful that at the end of the day we all get home safely, that we're healthy and that we have each other.

Mr. HSA

2011-11-22T04:42:00.000-08:00

Last week, Hult held elections for HSA, Hult Student Association. Jimmy had several students approach him to ask if he was considering running and told him that he had their full support. He had already kind of talked about running and maybe this gave him the little push to enter the election. Each student made a slide that was part of a slideshow that ran on the TVs at school. They also gave a short speech before voting took place. It should come as no surprise that Jimmy was chosen as 1 of 4 students out of 80 to represent Hult. We are so proud of him and the person that he is.

What a Difference 2 Months Make

2011-11-03T03:09:00.001-07:00

I know there's a song that talks about the difference a day makes but it certainly took more than a day. It took about 60 days to start to feel like we could survive here. But somehow, things always get better with time and patience.

I went into that store where we bought food the first night we got here and somehow it wasn't the dirty, crowed place that it was that first night. It was almost like a mini-walmart! They not only have snacks, they also have shampoo, toothpaste, envelopes, rulers, umbrellas, all kinds of stuff!

When we've been out all day and come home, it actually feels like home. The tub is still disgusting no matter how many times we have scrubbed it. It needs to be re-caulked badly.Despite the little things, it's nice to come home to our apartment.

This is where I go to buy our fruit and vegetables.

The first time we went in here none of the stuff seemed edible because it is so dark and wet and smelly in here. Now I go at least twice a week and pick up our fruit and veggies. All the fruit is here on the left side and is sold by one vendor. Then you walk to the right, into another section and there is a big long isle down the middle that has a ton of different veggie vendors. It's common for the stands to not post prices so you never know if the people are charging you more just because you're a foreigner. I went to several different vendors before finding a girl that we really like and she gives us a really cheap price. We love our veggie girl! I got a big bag of green beans the other day for 1 RMB! I don't love our fruit people but they are the only fruit vendors in this market so I go to them.

Instead of going to Carefour every time we need a food item we go to a small local store about 10 or so minutes walk from our place. These are the sights we pass on our walk. This will give a feel for what life is like in our neighborhood.

-pipe coming out of who knows where, bowl, and women doing her wash

This is very typical and can be seen several times per block. The pipe part is kind of unique but the rest is typical.

The shop with the yellow sign is selling curtain rods and there is a lady sitting behind a sewing machine making drapes. On the white table they are also selling cheap DVDs. I just love the random combination.

More shops...

The classic table on the right is outside of a "restaurant" and some guys are eating noodles for lunch.

Randomly you will see a barber shop like this set up in an alley. I hope to see Jimmy get his hair cut at one of these at least once. That would be awesome!

Clothes hanging to dry on the right and chicken on the left.... hanging to dry? I have no idea!

And to end... here are those cute people I live with!

Halloween in China

2011-10-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

The sad news is that China doesn't celebrate Halloween but the good news is that we have enough American friends that we were able to go to a party today. (Unfortunately, it was during the day so Jimmy wasn't able to make it.) It was so fun! Ali didn't get that it was Halloween but she still had a great time playing with all the kids and eating all the candy!There was candy apple dipping on the coffee table which was great for the older kids and double great for Ali since she could reach all the bowls of candy. If she wasn't grabbing other kids' candy out of their hands or laps she was making her way to this table! The other moms kept saying, "Um Julie, your daughter is eating the candy again." What can I say? She loves her chocolate! Like mother like daughter!Two other girls from our branch live in the same complex so after we ate some treats and played a bit we went to the other two apartments to trick-or-treat.

Here's Ali following all the kids to the next apartment.

Waiting at the door.

Going through her candy after trick-or-treating.

A few other girls from play group/church. (Don't mind my strange face as I chat with the lady trying to get the camera to work.)

ONE-derful

2011-10-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

We have had a 1-year-old for over a week now and all we can say is that it is

ONE-DERFUL!

(Yes, she's wearing Christmas pjs... never too early to love Santa I guess.)

It's like Ali woke up on her birthday and realized she had been alive a whole year and that she ought to know a whole lot. I am amazed at how much she understands! I can tell her something once and she remembers it. I know that seems like something normal, but I didn't realize that little people caught on to stuff so quickly. I make sounds and motions for animals and from that one time she will either make the sound, do the action, or both whenever she sees it. She is even able to identify that animal in several different kinds of books and pictures. And don't be fooled by the tile. This poster is not taped on our bathroom wall... it's our kitchen wall. What? Your kitchen isn't completely tiled?

Another absolutely lovely and amazing thing that has happened is that she is riding in her stroller now! This is a huge change. We tried everything to get her to ride in her stroller when we got here. I was getting really worried because in a few months when her brother gets here I won't be able to carry her everywhere we go. Miraculously, she is not only riding in the stroller but seems to actually enjoy it! Hallelujah! We actually brought a jogging stroller with us but it's just not Shanghai friendly. This one was left by a past member of our branch and so it floats around to whoever needs it. We're grateful we are able to use it. And Ali's outfit? I am exercising my right to dress my kid in whatever I want because we live in Asia. You know how those Asians are!(The above photo is a two for one special. I wanted to get a shot of how chill Ali is in her stroller and when I saw this cart full of junk I knew this was the perfect moment. So you can see Ali kicking back in the stroller and a cart full of junk. These are EVERYWHERE! This one appears to be a sort of wood cart. There are styrofoam carts, metal carts, you name it.)

She's eating PBJs. Fun!

She likes to stab her french toast with her finger...

and then stick it in her mouth. Yes, there is too much jam on her french toast. We have toned it down since this meal, but it made for a cute photo!

She's enjoying dressing up and looking at her cute self in the mirror. She gets really close to the mirror and gibber gabbers- it's to die for!

She loves saying prayers and gets really excited at the end when we say "amen". Then she gives kisses.

Sometimes Jimmy calls during his lunch break and she loves to hear his voice when he calls. She will pick up my phone throughout the day and say "Bye-bye Dada." It's super cute. And if I say his name she will hold her hands up and shrug, then start to look around for him.

LOVE these two! Jimmy has some baby apps on his iPad and they play them together!

She loves to brush her teeth when she sees us brushing ours. She also likes to dance to the "Brush You Teeth" song.

She got a new bed this week! We're planning on having Baby Boy sleep in the pack-n-play because we brought the bassinet part so we got this crib for Ali at IKEA. She seems to really enjoy being out of the pack-n-play.

Here are a couple more pictures from her birthday. We had cake with her on the evening of her birthday but since the next day was Saturday we had time to go out together. Here she is eating ice cream. She doesn't look very excited but she ate the whole thing so she must have been enjoying herself!

We took her on the carousel. She didn't love sitting on the animals...

but she liked to watch them from the bench. I don't blame her, this one was really fast compared to others that I've been on.

Easy as 1, 2, 3?

2011-10-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's crazy being in a place where not only can you not understand a word anyone is saying, but you also can't look up words that you see written. It's hard to flip through a dictionary looking for the characters. The good news is that they write their numbers like we do! What a relief! But get this, they don't show numbers on their fingers like we do! So I need to either learn how to count to ten with my mouth or my fingers. They actually show 1-5 like we do. This seems crazy to me because any time I have tried to show any number with my fingers they act like they don't know what I mean. For instance, I was buying towels the other day and told the lady I needed 2. I help up two fingers. She started filling the bag with towels. I think she put about 16 in there. I have no idea what she thought I meant by my two fingers. We finally got it sorted out and I left with two towels.

one

一 yī

two

二 èr

Three

三 sān

Four

四 sì

Five

五 wǔ

Six

六 lìu

Seven

七 qī

Eight

八 bā

Nine

九 jiǔ

Ten

十 shí

-or-

Kinda fun. Really not that big of a deal, but it seems so crazy to me that we can't all just hold up the number of fingers to match the number we're talking about.

AND THE WINNER IS...

2011-10-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

There are actually TWO winners! Congratulations to

MOM HRNCIRIK

and

ANN WARNER

We will be sending you a special surprise from China.

I wish we could send something to all of you.

But a HUGE thank you to EVERYONE who sent in recipes! I really appreciate the time that you all put in to searching out recipes for us! Cooking has gotten a bit easier because of your help.

1 YEAR OLD!!!

2011-10-21T05:02:00.001-07:00

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, MARY ALICE!!!

1 year ago you were born and made us the happiest parents in the world! We have been grateful every day since you joined our family and we love having you as our daughter! Here's a look at how you've grown:

Birth:

October 21, 2010

1 month:

2 months (baby blessing):

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

9 months:

10 months:

11 months:

12 months:

Where did my cake go?

Oh that's right... I got help from Daddy.

Ali loved all her presents!

Her absolute favorite is this puppy that barks and walks. Her little body was almost bursting with excitement over this puppy.

We love you so much Ali Bear! If you were any sweeter we'd have to eat you for dessert!!! We can't wait to see how you grow this next year!

And two more pictures from when she was a newborn because they're just so cute!

National Day

2011-10-15T04:53:00.001-07:00

October 1st is National Day of the People's Republic of China. People have told me it has something to do with China's independence. I'm not sure how that fits in with a country that is communistic but they got a 1 week holiday out of it so whatever. Anyway, the holiday started on the 1st and went until the 7th. Jimmy was going out of town with the students on Monday so we figured we should go out and see something fun on Saturday. IT WAS CRAZINESS! And that's just what happens when a city with this many people gets a holiday. We decided to go to People's Square and then walk over to the Bund. But so did everyone else. The Bund is the area along the Huangpu River that we saw on our dinner cruise. It is usually not that crowded and you can easily stroll there without any problems. But this day was so insane that the streets were lined with police and military men. Literally all the way down the street from People's Square to the Bund.

I had Jimmy snag this photo because I just love the noodle bowls that they eat here. It's like our cup-o-noodle things but super sized! They're everywhere. These people have each polished off their giant noodle bowl and are probably thinking about eating some meat on a stick for dessert.

This is the part where it gets scary- the Metro! We see now why some of the metro stations have glass doors- people were getting pushed onto the tracks and dying! This is what we saw as we were coming down the escalator. Solid people. And when we got to the bottom there was no more free space so everyone behind us just kept coming and pushing but there was nowhere to go. I started to get nervous that someone was going to get trampled.

The sign in the distance with the green square is what we were following to our line. Walking above ground in a crowd like this is one thing but it felt scary being down in the metro station with no space. I was just hoping there were no crazy people with weird plans to set off a bomb or something.

It was kind of stressful but we're glad we went out to experience this. We both agreed that we had never been in such a crowded place. It was good to see what holiday time is like in Shanghai and it's one of those things you only need to do once.

Dinner Cruise

2011-10-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

During orientation week the students were invited to go on a dinner cruise down the Huangpu River. This is the big river than flows through the middle of downtown Shanghai and it's pretty amazing to visit in the day or in the night. Both sides are lined with beautiful buildings. The coolest part is that family was invited to come along. Since the cruise took place a few days before our anniversary we decided it was our little anniversary date... and Ali got to come too. She was looking so cute in her little outfit and pearls! We had a fantastic time and enjoyed the food, views, and even fireworks.

There were some pretty cool boats at the dock and out on the river.

Such a card! While she was eating, the Chinese people pulled out the cameras and Ali was loving it. Everyone was snapping pictures and she was hamming it up!

Too funny! This picture just gets me! I love it!

The cruise went past our bedtime so we brought Ali's PJs. After dinner it was time for jammies!

The view from the boat.

More of the city...

Thanks for the date, Hult!

SARS and Orientation Week

2011-10-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

I am a bit behind on updating the blog and it's mostly because Ali has been sick with SARS for the past week.

Well, now that she's better I'm thinking it wasn't SARS but it was the only thing I could find on the internet that fit her symptoms. (hehehe... Jimmy hates it when I internet-diagnose.)

It also was the first thing I looked up... and the last.

But really, if you saw all these people walking around with masks on and then your baby got sick with a high fever and wouldn't wake up for days, wouldn't you think it was SARS?... oh, and you're also in SARS' birthplace.

At any rate, she has miraculously healed from SARS or never had it.

The good news is that Ali is better and has almost completely mastered the fine art of opening all drawers and cupboard doors in the apartment.

----{VIDEO COMING TOMORROW....when the students are out of the building and the internet isn't bogged down}-------

On to orientation week. This took place the week before Jimmy's trip. It was a week of interesting seminars, delicious food and cool sites. One seminar took place in this building, the Park Hyatt/Shanghai World Financial Center. It is the tallest building in China.

View from the room they were in.

Students waiting for the seminar to begin.

Jimmy and some of the guys enjoying the food.

This was by far my favorite story from the week: Jimmy went into the restroom and noticed these buttons by the toilet. He could not figure out what all of them were for. He decided to push one of them to see what happened. What happened was he ended up with water squirting his pants. I don't think he pushed anymore buttons.

Jimmy's Trip

2011-10-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

This past week Jimmy was gone on a trip with all of the Hult MBA students. They traveled around sleeping in a different hotel every night, doing team-building activities during the day, partying all night (some did), and eating crazy stuff! The two pictures below are all of the MBA students on the last day.

This was their tour guide/event director.

Oh the food!! I NEVER could have made it! Jimmy said some people just went hungry rather than eat the food. On the last day they stayed in a really nice place that had two options for breakfast: Chinese food or American/Euro food. People swarmed the American/Euro side for pastries and waffles! I would have been right there in front! Anyway, here we go... First up... chicken soup. THE WHOLE CHICKEN! Gross!!!

Plate on the left is full of duck tongue. Jimmy said it tasted pretty gross and was really tough meat. To the right is chicken feet.

Turtle soup. Sad and gross!

They love food on a stick. Below the woman is cooking meat on a stick and corn on a stick.

Here is duck soup. WHOLE DUCK SOUP. This guy is fishing the head out.

Random factoid: One of the buses got in an accident. Surprise, surprise. These drivers are insane! That driver was replaced.

Here is Jimmy's group that he was with the whole week.

One of the activities was to go on a picture scavenger hunt. This is them acting out the 12 zodiac signs.

Cool stuff they saw:

Below is one of the hotels they stayed at. Pretty!

He had a great time and said it was good getting to know people. It is amazing how many different countries are represented at this school. I've never seen such different people brought together in one place before. We are also pleasantly surprised by how wonderful everyone is. Overall the student body is a very nice group of kind and polite people. I'm sure it's a relief to Jimmy since he will be with them a lot over the next year. We have had so many students offer help to us in so many ways: helping with Ali, getting phones, find places to go... I even mentioned to one of them that I wanted to track down a show called Ni Hao Kai-Lan (Chinese version of Dora the Explorer) for Ali and a couple days later he showed up with 4 episodes of it. Nice people. I'm glad that they won't be going out of town again but we won't be seeing much more of him. At least he'll come home to sleep at night... when they're not pulling all nighters.

It's a CONTEST!!

2011-10-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

We are having a CONTEST here on our blog... strange?

I know.

But frankly, I'm hungry.

THE CONTEST IS THIS:

WHO CAN SUBMIT THE MOST RECIPES

HOW TO SUBMIT RECIPES:

HOWEVER YOU WANT!

Leave them in the comments, drop me an email (j.hrncirik or jujunewton at gmail), facebook me, whatever. It can be the full out recipe or just a link to a recipe (but not a link to a website... unless it's an "American Cooking in China" website)

THE CATCH IS THIS:

THE RECIPES MUST BE SHANGHAI FRIENDLY

(meaning that they must be things that I can cook with the ingredients we have available.)

THE PRIZE!!!!!! .... of course there's a prize:

A CHINESE SURPRISE

(No, not chocolate. We all know they don't have chocolate here.)

SOMETHING COOL AND CHINESE-Y

(ok but not super huge... sorry, we're poor grad students... but as cool as possible)

**CONTEST ENDS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22nd**

More about THE CATCH:

1. Remember we DO NOT HAVE an oven.

2. We also DO NOT HAVE a crock pot.

3. We DO HAVE access to most fruits and vegetables. The only thing I can think of is that lettuce is really expensive (but they have cabbage).

4. Forget about recipes that have anything super tasty like CHEESE! Right! This country does not eat sweets and does not eat dairy!!!!!!!! And yes, I have gone over a month without CHEESE! How am I still alive? It's a miracle and a mystery. They DO HAVE milk though.

5. They also DO NOT HAVE canned stuff. However, I have found tomato paste.

WHY am I doing this instead of looking for recipes myself?? The truth is that this is kind of a trail/weakness of mine. I do LOVE food but I have never been good at knowing what to make for dinner... I have been trying. I just know that some of you are better at this than I am and you probably know of a dozen recipes off hand.

Even if you just send one it will save us from another night of rice and soy sauce. =)

***Clarification: When I say they don't HAVE cheese and those sorts of things what I really mean is that the people here don't eat those things so they are not easy to find, common place, affordable. It is said of Shanghai that you can find anything in this city if you know where to look and if you are willing to pay for it. So saying they don't have cheese means that they don't eat cheese so if you want to buy it, you can, but it will cost you. They sell the really small blocks of cheese that we have back home but it will be anywhere from 6-9 dollars a pop, depending on the store. If we had an awesome job we may not worry about buying cheese once in a while but it's just not possible for us now. I'm sure there are Americans who buy and eat cheese just like they do at home and don't think twice about it and would think we are silly for not splurging. Most of the foods we are used to eating and seeing at home are not affordable for us. So I'm a bit dramatic but hopefully this makes sense.

THANK YOU!

2011-10-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank you all for your kind words and words of encouragement. It has helped me so much and really keeps me motivated to be here day to day and maintain a good attitude for myself and my little family. Also, thank you for your sweet anniversary wishes. We have our Jimmy back from his trip and it's great to be together again. He had some great experiences and ate some cRaZy things! I will post some photos in the next couple days.

My Best Friend

2011-10-03T04:45:00.001-07:00

3 years ago today I married my best friend.

It doesn't sound like a long time when I say it.

I feel like we have had experiences that have deepened our relationship and make it feel like we've known each other much longer.

Last Sunday I faced the reality that the next morning we would wake up and he would leave for school and not be back until after Ali went to bed.

My heart hurt.

It was a hard night and I cried as I feel asleep and he held me.

It's sad not having him around as much.

He's my favorite person to be with.

It's just not the same without him around.

This morning he left for the week with all of the other students on a team-building trip.

It was another hard morning and sad to spend our anniversary apart.

But it's good to have times like these that make you realize how much you love your spouse.

We'll miss him every day this week but we will cherish each moment we can spend together.

Love you sweet Jimmy!

1 Month

2011-09-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

A 7 day holiday is starting on Saturday so everyone is decorating and getting ready to celebrate. We saw these huge lanterns being set up on the way to church last week. They are the biggest I've seen yet.

In a way it's hard to believe we've been here for 1 month already.... on the other hand it's hard to believe it's only been 1 month. It has been a month of adjusting and learning and growing... mixed in with some very cool experiences. I'm happy that we're here. I am amazed that life has brought us half way around the world. I always dreamt of going to China, and never dreamed I'd live here. I remember telling Jimmy that I really wanted to visit Asia some day and asking him if he was interested. I don't know if it was the frugal side of him or the calm side of him that caused him to not really react but here we are... living that once in a life-time experience.

I don't understand these people. I don't just mean the language. That's obvious. I mean the people themselves. They have so many interesting mannerisms. And while they all act very much the same, it doesn't make sense. For instance in Czech Republic, even though they did things differently, it wasn't hard to understand why they did things the way they did. I don't know if it was the gift of being a missionary and praying every day for charity (which I have started doing) or just that Europe is more similar to America than Asia is.

My goal for this month is to understand the culture a little bit more. I find myself getting frustrated by the way things are done here because it seems like there are no rules, or at least none of the rules are being followed.

I don't understand why even though the light is red, cars are still driving through the intersection.

I don't understand why even though the signal says walk, cars and scooters are driving and honking at pedestrians.

I don't understand why no one gives up their seat on public transportation for someone else who might be tired or need it more than they do.When the bus or metro is approaching the station and people stand to wait by the door, someone else will immediately sit in the spot. There are rarely empty seats on transportation. And the seats are rarely given up for the elderly. And if they are, it's usually by someone a few years younger than the elderly who could also use the rest.

I don't understand why no one moves to the side to make way for someone else.

I don't understand why people are honking outside at 4 in the morning when there is only 1 other car on the road.

I don't understand why the Snickers bars are behind glass doors with locks on them in the supermarket. (truth)

I don't understand why everyone has to hold my baby. (I actually do understand this a little bit)

Why do I find myself waiting for 40 minutes for a bus that is supposed to run every 10 minutes. And when I find someone who speaks English they tell me that they do run every 10 minutes. Huh?

I don't understand why the cleaning ladies don't use cleaners and they use the same rag and mop in every room in the building.You better believe I ask them not to clean when they come!

I hope this all doesn't sound negative, although some days one or more of these feel frustrating. These are just some things that don't make sense to me. And there are many things here that don't make sense. Even the Chinese people agree. And they will tell you that you will never understand it because they don't either. Jimmy had a seminar this week and the speaker is from here and said that even if someone gets run over, it's no big deal. He said:

1.3 billion - 1 = no big deal

So that's kind of the attitude here. Of course that is a generalization. Just like anywhere else, there are the Mother Teresas doing all they can and devoting their lives to making others happy. The general feel here is not what I expected. What I do expect, is that as time goes on I will understand things more and grow to love and enjoy the personalities of the Chinese people just as I have been able to do in other countries that I have visited. In the mean time I am looking for the fun, quirky things that make me smile and I am trying not to let the annoying things fester and spoil a great adventure. Overall it has been a fun month and we are looking forward to many more great times.

At some of the busier metro stations they have glass doors instead of just an opening to the tracks. Smart!

Before you get on any metro you have to put your bag through the scanner.

Good baby! Sometimes she falls asleep on the transportation. We love that!

There are TONS of delivery guys here. McDonald's and Pizza Hut both deliver. They also have a service called Sherpas that will go to any restaurant and bring the food to you. They all ride on scooters.

I love the yogurt here! It's very runny so you just stick a straw in the top (they all come with straws) and drink it.

I love how they carry stuff here. It always amazes me.

This is where we go to buy groceries. We ride the bus and then walk across the street to this big shopping center called Cloud Nine. It's like a mall but Carrefour is on the bottom two floors.

There are people pushing these carts all around town and depending on the time of year they sell different things. There is a big metal drum heating whatever is being sold. Since we got here they have been setting chestnuts and now it's time for the sweet potatoes and corn.

11 Months Old!!

2011-09-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

Mary Alice is 11 months old!

We had no idea that babies were so smart at this age! She understands so much and wants to do so much already. She is VERY determined and wants to be walking around exploring all the time. It makes trips to the grocery store very exciting and entertaining.

Ali Loves:

Walking

When we're out and about she likes to hold your finger to walk, or if she knows she wants to go a far distance. At home she'll attempt walking by herself more than when she's out.

Elevators

We live on the 32nd floor so she has spent a lot of time in the elevator. Ours has a mirror on the ceiling and she will look up and laugh. She has started saying "up" when she looks up.

Stairs

We have three steps outside our building and she has to walk down them and then turn around and go back up them 1 million times, or as many times as we'll let her.

(This guy works at the tea house next door and I love him and his outfit in this picture. We didn't even ask him to pose he just whipped this out. I especially love his dragon boot/slippers! We are getting some of these for Ali and Baby Boy! They are awesome!)

Escalators

As soon as she sees that we are headed onto the escalator she starts to slide down so she can stand on them and then walk up or down the steps.

Baths

I ask if she's ready for a bath and she'll point to the bathroom. Actually it's the standing in the bathtub that she seems to like the most. She stands and we say, "No. Please sit down." And she does a little squat. Then she'll wait a second and pop back up. So we say it again and she squats again. I try not to giggle but the little look she gives us is so cute. And if she sees us grab the towel to get her out she sits down even quicker. So cute!

Shoes

(We got these when we were at Yuyuan last week. I love them so much! They are so random and Euro!... plus she loves them and they're comfy.)

She loves putting her shoes on when it's time to go outside. She will also hand you your shoes if she's ready to go.

Waving

She is still really into waving. Everyone is always talking to her and waving at her and she likes to wave back. She also likes to look over my shoulder and say "bye-bye" and wave to everyone behind us.

(at a birthday party for one of the boys in the branch. She loved these carrot cupcakes!)

Going to Bed

When it's nap time or bed time I will ask her if she wants to go Nigh- Night and she will immediately turn to Daddy, wave with both hands and say, "bye- bye". Then she'll grab my finger and walk into the room. It is probably the cutest thing in the whole world.

Nursing

I don't know how we're ever going to wean her. It will happen, but it will be really sad.

Animals

She moos when she sees a cow and growls when she sees a tiger or bear. (She also growls when she hears Jimmy burp. It's pretty funny!)

The pictures on our Walls

As she is sitting in her highchair she will point to each one and have you say what it is. "trees, Jesus, flowers" etc.

Oh, we LOVE this little girl SO MUCH!!

She is growing up so fast and is such a fun little thing! I'm looking forward to the next few months of change and growth.

p.s.- Is this little Chinese girl not the cutest thing ever!? We have seen her a couple times as we are waiting for our bus. Here she is sharing her motorcycle with Ali. We have to get one of these before we leave!

Yuyuan

2011-09-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

Best. Day. Ever.

This place is a MUST SEE.

I have be so excited to go a Chinese-y part of town ever since we got here and this was just perfect! There was so much to see! We could go back 10 times and still want to see it again!

They sell anything and everything Chinese-y you could imagine... and more! Each shop has something different. This of course is the paper lantern shop...

The umbrella/parasol shop. I would just LOVE the hot pink one! So cute! And we didn't even go inside. I'm sure there are many more that I wouldn't be able to leave without.

The fan shop...

...and then we stopped taking pictures of the shops because there were just too many cool things to look at. We'll get more photos next time.

I can't get enough of these red lanterns. They're so magical!

Ali LOOOOVES the Chinese statues. She usually growls when she sees one. Today she was brave and wanting to touch them. In the past weeks, she would pull her hand away when we got close.

People were rubbing these things- it must be good luck.

These sweet ladies were sitting on this bench and loved that we came over to get a picture with them. The two closest to us tried to hold the baby but Ali wasn't having it. I love their costumes.

Nanjing Road

2011-09-14T23:07:00.001-07:00

I met a girl at playgroup this week who arrived in Shanghai about the same time we did. She is here with her husband and 2 year-old boy. Besides the fact that she's super nice, she was also very inspiring. She said they have been out every day since they got here exploring some place new. I'm not sure if it's the fact that they are here for an internship and know they're leaving in a few months or what, but it made me realize that we need to get out! We've really been wanting to but it seems like something always comes up. So today we got out! We rode the metro to People's Square, which is also the stop that Jimmy will be going to every day for school beginning in 1 week. It was great! That part of the city was SO different from where we are. We went to a section of Nanjing Road called Pedestrian Walkway that is lined with tons of stores. They were all pretty modern and the shops were things like Prada and those kinds of fancy things.

Ali wanted so badly to be down walking and once we put her down she did not want to stop! I am telling you, it was the CUTEST thing! Jimmy would hold one hand but she had to have the other one free so she could wave! She would walk and wave at everyone and laugh and laugh! It was so cute! She walked so much, she actually got a blister. Sad! But she didn't even care!

Of course she found the one leaf on the sidewalk! Our little nature lover!

Lately I have been getting really frustrated with everyone touching her! It started a couple days ago, I just had had it. I don't understand the mind set of having to touch her! She and I were on the bus yesterday, and the two people standing next to us had a hold of all of her extremities! I had to switch her to the other side of me so they would stop grabbing at her. I'm sure it seems silly to be bothered by it, but it's just hard to explain how you feel when you can't be out in public without everyone grabbing at your child. While Ali was walking in People's Square today, Jimmy was on one side of her and I was on the other. As I mentioned, she didn't want anyone holding her other hand but I was walking along side her so no one would walk over and try to pick her up- they would do that. But it didn't stop people from trying to grab her hand. They would come right in between she and I and take her hand. As soon as I saw a hand coming in I would put my hand down to kind of block them from getting her. There was one lady who was just doing this over and over again. The last time I put my hand down to intercept she was already holding Ali's arm so I ended up grabbing the lady's arm and pulling it off of her. I think I grabbed her hand kind of hard but it was just instinct. She finally got the picture and left us alone. I have no problem with people admiring our darling baby but HANDS OFF people! I know you haven't washed your hands since you came out of your mother's belly, it's probably been 1 hour since you sifted through a bin of raw meat, and who knows what else you do! As mother always says, look with your eyes, not your hands!
Well, besides me getting a little aggressive with the locals, it was a fabulous outing and I can't wait to go out again and explore the city with my little family!
The is one of those cool pully cart things. We haven't really seen these in action, this one was just on display. Now they have things like this that are pulled by a scooter. I'll have to get a picture. A friend introduced us to these and they are delish! Pea Snacks! We all love them, especially Ali. And the best part is they are so healthy. It's basically a baked pea.

The Restaurant Downstairs

2011-09-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

We have two restaurants at the bottom of our building. One advertises itself as a Chinese fast food, and the other seems more of a sit down place. The 2nd day we were here we still didn't have much food to eat and poor Jimmy was starving so we decided to check out the fast-food place. He got a meal with kung pao chicken, rice, broccoli and some kind of stiff, gelatin egg concoction. Ali and I just had a couple tastes. He said it tasted pretty good, but the aftermath was a little undesirable. It didn't sit well with the insides, if you know what I mean. The next day we were coming home from something and happened to look up in the window of the restaurant. We noticed this sign:I don't think we'll be eating there again.

Mary Alice's First Steps!

2011-09-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

What an exciting day! Mary Alice took her first real steps today. We could tell it was coming sometime because she is so steady holding our finger and walking but it was still such an exciting surprise! I left her standing a couple steps from the bed to go over and get some books to read. I put them on the bed and when I turned to look at her she was walking over to the bed! I called Jimmy in and we watched her take little steps all over the room! I was so proud I almost started crying. I had no idea I would feel like this when she started walking. It's just such a cool thing.

(you can also check out our awesome carpet)

Week 2: Off to a Great Start!

2011-09-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

A girl in our ward emailed me and asked if we wanted to borrow a highchair. YES! We were about to go to IKEA to buy one because Mary Alice just hasn't been eating the same without one.

We went over in the morning to pick it up and also got to ask her a bunch of questions. In addition to the highchair she gave us some baking powder, vanilla and cinnamon! YAY! Now we can eat pancakes and make some tortillas! I just cannot believe how much I took for granted until we moved here. It seems like an exaggeration to say that you cannot find these things here but you really can't. There is a store called City Center that has some imported stuff but it's 4 times the price. For example, they have a box of cereal there that is half the size of a normal box and it is $10. Outrageous! We were able to find some oatmeal at a local grocery store for $3 so that's what we're eating for breakfast.... but tomorrow we're having pancakes! =)

I could probably make a list of 20 items and that is what is in every store here, nothing more. That also seems crazy, but here is a picture to illustrate how this can be possible.

So this shop is pretty small. It has a total of about 6 aisles. 2 of those aisles contain home goods such as dishes, rags, toothpaste, etc. 1 aisle contains crackers and those sorts of things. The point is, is that there is 1 whole wall dedicated to oil! In a larger shop like Tesco there would be two long rows filled with oil. We went to the store several times before we were able to buckle down and buy one. There were just so many to choose from.

1 Week Anniversary!

2011-09-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 1 week anniversary of moving to China and it was the best day ever! We finally collected enough ingredients to make a full meal, I talked Jimmy into getting ice cream bars, and we got Kung Fu Panda for under $1! Fun night! We have a favorite Asian restaurant back home and there are some particular noodles there that I LOVE... well we found what looked like the same thing in the market and it turns out, they are! Delish! I'm so happy we found them!

We're glad that Ali can still get her puppy fix.

A man outside of the tea house next door, entertaining the baby.

The glorious ice cream bar!!

Everyone had to have some because it was a big event!

We survived week 1!

Fat Camp

2011-09-07T01:57:00.000-07:00

I know I have put on a little weight with these babies but fat camp? Really? If this is a joke, it’s not funny, and if this is a trick, it’s a dirty trick! This place has practically zero treats! How cruel. And these are the days I need them most! It’s a bit stressful and chocolate always soothes the soul… so do the scriptures, but chocolate soothes the chocolate side of my soul. Why would a country decide that it doesn't need sweets? I think that’s why they still have communism here. A piece of chocolate cake would do these leaders well.

Day 5 (Sunday 9/3)

2011-09-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Our baby at 4 in the afternoon.

Our baby at 4 in the morning.

Sunday mostly consisted of church.

getting to church

+ being at church

+ getting home from church

= 6 hours

We left our apartment at 9:30 am and got home at 3:30 pm. I’m sure it will be cut by a little bit next Sunday because we chatted with the members.

We walk to the metro stop, ride for about an hour and then walk to the church building.

Ali fell asleep during Relief Society and slept the whole way home. It was a perfect nap. Since then we haven’t had to worry about her (or us) sleeping 5 hours in the afternoon.

It was GREAT being at church! It always makes you feel like you’re not too far from home. It’s exactly the same everywhere. I know everyone always says that but it’s true. The members were really nice and it was good to see families there, surviving in Shanghai. Everyone has such a different story but each has something valuable to share with new residents. I met a girl in Relief Society who has been a huge help. She and her family are living on a very tight budget (and she is pregnant) and she has emailed me some helpful tips about where to get food and a few stovetop recipes. I don’t know if I have mentioned it or not but ovens are very uncommon here. We do not have one so we’re trying to come up with creative ways to make meals. We have heard that our rice cooker can also cook chicken so as soon as we can find some safe chicken to eat we will try it out.

Day 4 (Saturday 9/2)

2011-09-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

This is how you do it. Anything you need hauled goes on the back of a bike or scooter. We've seen some crazy stuff being moved around town. One guy had his whole house loaded onto the back of a scooter. No joke! A bookcase, chairs, a dresser, bed- it's was crazy!

There are a lot of city workers cleaning the streets throughout the day and this is what they have to sweep with. It is a bamboo stick with branches tied to it. I think I made one of these when I was the Wicked Witch of the West for Halloween a few years back. Who knew I could have saved it for housework?

The branch-broom in action.

We really hadn’t bought much at Carefour. We’ve since wondered why it feels like all we do is visit the markets but I think it’s because back home you can fill your car once a week but here it’s just as much as you can carry on your back. We had mostly been eating PBJs, rice, noodles, carrots and yogurt. Not bad, but we wanted to see if we could make an actually meal sometime. Plus we need to start finding things that Ali likes to eat. I had brought a box of oatmeal for her so at least she is getting that in addition to the other stuff.

Anyway, we set out for Tesco. I was really excited because Tesco was like my favorite store in Czech Republic. Even though the Carefour was a fraction of the size that I was used to seeing in CR I still had hope that Tesco wouldn’t let us down! And it did not disappoint! Oh Tesco, if you were a person I would write you love letters! It was a glorious site! Two floors or stuff!!! Clean stuff! Stuff that didn’t make me fear for the life of my baby and my fetus! Until this point I had been pretty worried. We had walked by a few hospitals and I was beginning to wonder if either of my babies would make it out of here alive. Seems strange to make judgments of future hospital visits on the appearance of a grocery store but that’s just the way it is. There were a lot of fruit and vegetables here that we could eat and they weren’t that expensive. There is the question of whether or not they are safe to eat, but we needed to eat something. So in addition to some groceries we picked up a couple kitchen items and I got to look around at the kid’s sections. I love the little Chinese things for kids.

The walk to Tesco wasn’t bad. I think it was only about 10 or 15 minutes and I could avoid the big intersection with the flights of stairs but getting into Tesco by myself would again, be a problem. So frustrating! How hard is it to just have a shop on street level or make it accessible to everyone!? You have to go up a few steps to get into the building and then down a flight of stairs. From there, there are escalators. And this is NOT like Czech Republic where people will help you with your stroller. They just stare at you. So while I was super excited to have a Tesco nearby, there was still no way I could make the trip with Ali unless Jimmy was with me. If I wasn’t pregnant I’m sure I could manage, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be huffing a 50 lb thing up and down stairs several times a week. We’ll see. Something will work out.

We took another nap but it was a little shorter this time. I wasn’t too worried about it since I knew church would help keep us awake the next day.

Day Three (Friday 9/2)

2011-09-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

(Some random table set out next to the street. Funny stuff!)

I honestly can’t remember what we did Friday morning. But when Jimmy went to Mandarin class in the afternoon the baby and the mommy went down for a nap and again slept way too long. But it just felt so right! At this point I’m totally not bothered by sleeping, eating and playing at strange times.

Jimmy came home from class around 4:30 and that same girl from student services came with him to translate the instructions on our washer. She told us that there was another metro stop and a Tesco in the other direction from where we had walked the other day. She also said that it was probably closer! Yay!! I saw a glimmer of hope that I was going to be able to go to the store by myself!... and maybe even the metro. Our part of town is not really a place you want to be stuck in. I know there must be cooler things to see around the city than men in their underwear sitting in the alleys. She also told us that there were two markets about a 5-minute walk from us. That was also great news!

We figured we didn’t have enough time to make it to Tesco tonight so we decided to go for a walk to the two markets to check them out. We usually have to go out on walks in the early evening so that Ali doesn’t sleep from noon to midnight and then want to be up all night. The markets were ok. Not a place to do big trips to but places to go if we need to pick up noodles or rice or something Chinese-y like that. We also got a broom, mop and other cleaning supplies. So they do having cleaners here, they just don’t use them.

We went home, ate some noodles or something and went to bed with vision of sugarplums dancing in our heads… or a turkey and gravy and chocolate cake!

(Our little Chinese baby having some rice before bed. What a cutie!)

Day Two (Thursday 9/1)

2011-09-06T16:29:00.000-07:00

In the morning, I remembered having heard something about China having Kaufland or Carefour. We had both of those stores on my mission and they were really good and usually had everything. We looked them up and found that they did not have Kaufland but had Carefour. There was one close-ish to us so we found a metro stop on the map and headed out. No one had slept very well that first night. We were up several times and had been awake since 4 am and we decided to wait until 6:30 am to go out.

You know how it is when you feel like you’ve been walking forever and you’re not sure if you really have, or if it just seems that way because you don’t know where you’re going? Well that’s what the walk to the metro was like. The streets weren’t that busy yet, so that was good. Ali seemed to be enjoying her stroller ride, which was also good because I don’t think either of us wanted to carry her the whole way.

I had wanted to try some street food so as we were walking we scoped out the possibilities… and it was frightening! It was a combination of the filthy streets, men in their underwear brushing their teeth in the alleys over drains, stacks of dirty dishes on the ground filled with brown water, uncooked meat sitting out on tables and the putrid smell that seemed to be coming at us from every direction. There may have been some tasty street food mixed in with all of that but it would have taken a couple more days without food to be that desperate. I decided to just wait for some Carefour groceries.

After what seemed like and hour (but really is more like 20 minutes now that we know where it is) we saw the metro station. It was across a big intersection from where we were standing. At big intersections here you can’t cross the street on ground level, you have to go up a couple flights of stairs, walk across a bridge and down the other side. So we each grabbed a side of the stroller and made our way to the metro. The whole time I was thinking to myself that in a couple weeks I would be doing this by myself. We ended up bringing a jogging stroller and I’m pretty glad we did because Ali is so comfortable in it but it weighs 25 pounds. If you add her to it that’s about 50 pounds and I just couldn’t see how I was going to be able to lift that by myself especially in the coming months. Maybe I could just avoid the main intersection by crossing earlier? But I would still have to go up the same amount of stairs to get into the station. One thing that we noticed right away, and has become even more apparent the longer we are here, is that this place IS NOT stroller or wheelchair friendly- and that is an understatement! For example, we have seen a couple elevators but they don’t go from the bottom to the top, they will start on the second floor and only take you up one floor. So to get to the elevator in the first place, you have to climb a flight of stairs. They do have escalators in some places but there will be big metal polls in front of them so that you have to lift the stroller over them to get on the escalator. It’s so frustrating to be standing right next to a perfectly good escalator that you can’t get on with your stroller. And then sometimes when you want to exit the metro station, like at the metro stop we use to go to church, there are big cement polls as high as your head. They are spaced just enough for a person to slide through.

Anyway, we make it onto the metro and go one stop to Carefour. By this time it is 7:15 and there is a pretty long line of people waiting for 7:30 when the store will open. So we got in line and immediately the people started to SWARM! They wanted to get a better look at our baby. They came closer and closer, people stepping in front of other people, pushing their way to the front to be closest to the baby. They were talking and laughing and pointing and then they just could not restrain themselves! They had to touch her; her arms, hands, legs, face. Poor thing just looked up at me and I didn’t know if she was getting nervous or not but I sure was so I picked her up and tried to keep people from holding her, their arms stretching out towards her.

(Example of some attention that the baby brings. You can see one lady has a hold of Ali's leg.)

There would be a person who would know a couple words in English and they would find out she was a girl (everyone asks us if she is a boy or girl even when she is wearing hot pink and a bow) and pass the word on to the crowd. The crowd would them repeat it to themselves and their neighbor and laugh and clap and touch the baby. Then someone would find out how old she is and the same thing would happen. I was starting to feel really overwhelmed when the store finally opened and the people began making a mad dash for the tiny entrance to the store. Everyone was pushing and shoving their way in and once they got in they would run to their desired destination- the meat aisles or the bok choy. There were two or three aisles of bins filled with unwrapped, raw or frozen meat and peopled swarmed those bins, sifting through them with their bare hands!

(A bin of meat. Really I can't see myself ever buying this stuff. Maybe for Halloween. =))

They would pick up a piece of meat, inspect it, drop it and continue searching through the bin. Some older lady grabbed a piece of meat and evidently the man next to her didn’t like that because he elbowed her and she pushed him in return.

(Here are the people crowding one of the meat aisles. It doesn't look as extreme as it does in person. Mostly because the man in the white shirt is making it so you can't see how many people are on the other side of him.)

People were yelling at each other, the workers, and who knows whom else. I wish I knew what they were saying.

To make a really long story a couple paragraphs shorter, we collected some essentials and headed home.

(These are the carrots they have here. Huge! Luckily they're not that expensive. We might be eating a lot of carrots.)

The peanut butter was not as expensive as we thought it was going to be. It’s only a dollar or two more so we got some. They’re not really into bread here so it’s not as good as at home but better than nothing. We stopped in some alley market to pick up a couple fried patties made of flour and who knows what else. I had a couple bites but Jimmy, and even the baby, ate the rest. By this time of morning the streets and sidewalks were packed and it took a little longer getting home because of the traffic. We did stop off at a park so Ali could get on the grass and play. I’m sure she misses being outside in the woods- poor little thing.

(Nature time in Tianshan Park. This is the new thing that Ali is doing and it is beyong adorable! I can't get enough of it and it makes me laugh every time she does it.)

The rest of the day is a blur. I do know we put the baby down for a nap around 11 am or noon, laid down for a nap ourselves and woke up 5 hours later. Oops. That wasn’t going to help us adjust to the time… oh well, it was our first full day and we were tired. We’re just rolling with it.

A Few Pictures

2011-09-05T21:55:00.001-07:00

Above: Ali relaxing during the first leg of our travels! She was this calm the whole time!

Below: Ali sitting next to Daddy playing with some foam blocks. These were and are a big hit!

This is one of the things from the bakery that we DID NOT buy the first night. You can't read the tag very well but it says "spicy floss". It's like dry meat flakes- that's the best way I know how to explain it. It's everywhere! They have it in big bins in the grocery store and in little packages in the aisles. We'll try it some day I'm sure.

(YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PIC TO ENLARGE IT)

This cool looking thing connects our building to the building next door. To the left is a restaurant at the bottom of our building (story to come on that place) and to the right is a tea house. If Ali looks like she is about to fall asleep it's probably because she is. We were out for a walk so she wouldn't sleep all day.

This is what you see when you walk out of our apartment building. You can see what they call the "elevated road", if you were to look to the left there would be an off ramp. That black car closest to the camera is actually pulling out of the apartment driveway onto the main road. The road and sidewalk are this packed all day.

Below is a restaurant nearby. Once I get brave enough we'll eat out. It will happen soon... I think. But isn't Jimmy just so handsome in his glasses! I love it!

This gives you a little idea of how many bikes and scooters are on the roads. It's pretty amazing! And you should see what happens when the light turns green! Absolute chaos! It's a wonder that people aren't getting hit every two seconds.

Our Apartment is...

2011-09-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

There are many adjectives one might use to describe our apartment. Before we got here, we were sent a slide show of our accommodations and the adjectives we used then are probably the opposite of what we use now that we’ve seen it. I’ll use Jimmy’s word because it fits so well- GHETTO. Although ghetto, it’s not awful, just not what we expected. I have already adjusted to the reality of where we live so it’s really not that big of a deal. It reminds me of a lot of apartments I saw on my mission. Same tiled bathroom, same chalky walls and interesting kitchen. Our bedroom has some 70s style carpet that has more of a cheap velvet feel than carpet- fancy! But I am grateful for carpet in at least one room! It’s a perfect place for Ali to play.
An interesting factoid about cleaning in China (at least Shanghai) is that they do not use cleaners. They just wipe or mop with water and you can tell!!! It is obvious that this place has never been cleaned. I became very grateful for the container of Clorox wipes that I felt inspired to bring. I began wiping things down almost immediately. I think my awareness of the dirt and germs added to my aversion to food. But we pretty much have the whole place wiped down by now so we’re doing good. I was just amazed at how dirty every item and surface was that I wiped! Places I didn’t even know could get dirty were disgusting. Almost a week later, it’s starting to feel like home and we’re feeling more comfortable.
(I will add pictures soon. I’m not able to upload them for some reason but we’ll figure it out.)

From the Beginning... Take Two

2011-09-05T04:06:00.000-07:00

I knew that we just had to get there. We weren't looking forward to the flight but it was necessary since "beaming" is yet to be invented. Jimmy gave Ali a blessing Tuesday morning before we left and it was amazing to watch the priesthood in action. It was a miracle to see how calm and relaxed Ali was the whole trip.... well, the whole trip meaning after she scremed the whole way to the airport. But really, I've NEVER seen her so calm! She just sat in her little seat eating snacks, playing with games or watching a show. She had her two naps, right on schedule, and when it was bed time she went right to bed and woke up shortly before we landed. It was bettter than I could have imagined and I couldn't keep from giggling to myself at how perfectly things were going.
We arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday evening and after receiving all our bags (YAY!) and a stop in at the restroom (yes, I had to go, but I was also so curious because of the horror stories I had heard about the bathrooms in Shanghai- for the record it was one of the nicest bathrooms I've ever been in.), we walked through customs and met up with out driver. After loading our bads into the van we began our almost 1 hour drive to our apartment. Ali fell asleep quickly and Jimmy and I tried to catch glimpses of the city through the VERY tinted windows. I was surprised at how many "normal" looking houses there were. There were mixed in with a lot of tall, grey-ish apartment buildings. I've never been to a city like this! We weren't even on one edge of the city and after driving an hour to our apartment, which wasn't on the edge of the city either, we never saw a break in the buildings! This city is intense!
As we pulled up to our building I noticed many of the pictures from the slideshow- Family Mart, Bakery, etc. As we were checking in a member of student services met us downstairs and then showed us to our room. She said she had already been in it to make sure everything was ok- nice or weird? Not sure. But she's a nice girl.
After we put our bags in our room we decided that we should probably find some food. Unlike most people, I usually really enjoy airplane food but I just couldn't bring myself to eat the food on our flight- it was weird and it smelt gross. I'm not sure how much of it was baby boy's doing or just werid travel stomach- point being, I was very hungry and so were Jimmy and Ali. We started making the rounds to the places that were nearby since it was getting late and was already pretty dark. The strange things is that it gets light really early here, around 5 or 5:30 am but then gets dark really early, around 6 or 6:30 pm.
The first thing I noticed as we stepped out of our building is how many cars there were on the streets! It was 7 pm and there was nothing but cars! We live on a major road, close to two major intersections, and there is an offramp-type-thing right outside our door so I'm sure these all contribute to the nonstop trafic and honking! Oh boy, they LOVE to honk! I haven't even figured out what they are trying to communitcate with the honking. It's something like, "I have a horn and I am just testing it to see if it works since the last time I tested it 60 seconds ago." Cars are not the only thing, there are a lot of bikes and scooters! And the funny/scary thing is, is that if the person on the bike or scooter decides that there is not enough room on the street they will just go right up onto the sidewalk! Really! And then they start honking at the pedestrians! I've decided I'm going to get a horn on my stroller.
So we stop in at the first "Family Mart" which is actually the equivallent of a small gas station store- only drinks and candy. The second little store consists of two very narrow aisles filled with werid, old-looking, dusty food. This was our last close "store" so I just grabbed some cheesy, crunch things and a package of strawberry wafers. Strange choices for food, especially when one of the people needing to eat is a baby, but they seemed like the safest options. At this point I was pretty turned off to food but we decided to try our last chance for some sort of substance, the bakery around the corner. The selection was very small and very expensive but we ended up each getting some sort of bread to much on. Ali got a mini croissant, I got a baguette and Jimmy braved some roll with meat in it. His "garbage disposal" way of eating has really come in handy for him here. =)
As we got back home, I became very grateful for every snack morsel that I brought for the plane that we hadn’t consumed yet. Ali ate one of the two baby foods that I had brought. We finished up our snacks and went to bed exhausted and still pretty hungry. I was excited to wake up the next day and find a grocery store and maybe eat something cool and from the street vendors.

We made it!!!

2011-09-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago, after one of our (Ali's) 2 am wake-ups I put the baby back down to sleep and felt like writing about our experience so far. Two hours later when Ali woke up again I was still typing! It was the longest post in history but was so good for me to have every detail down as it was fresh in my mind. Jimmy got her up, and she crawled into the living room where I was typing put her little fingers on the keys and, as only she can do, erased everything in a split second! Just then the draft autosave activated and it saved her erased version of my two hour journal entry. I couldn't be mad at her. She just loves keyboards. But I did lose motivation to type everything up again. I do want to have it on record so maybe I'll just type a little at a time and hope that I catch all that I wanted to.

It's Monday now and we've been here 5 days. It feels like 5 years. This is such a unique experience! I've never lived in a place where I look different than everyone else. When I served in Czech Republic I still looked like everyone. It wasn't until I opened my mouth that they knew for sure I wasn't from there. Here, everyone just stares. It may not be as bad if we didn't have a baby but they are OBSESSED with Ali! We had a friend tell us about the attention that she would probably get but it's hard to imagine until you've experienced it because there's just nothing like it.

Every day is getting better and better. We are slowly, very slowly adjusting to the time change- a 13 hour difference is hard to explain to a 10 month old but I think she's doing well. I don't have any expectation for when her sleep will be back to awesome so we'll just go with it. She is still wanting to wake up several times in the night but I don't blame her. She thinks she is supposed to be taking naps at that time, not sleeping through the night. So we try to put her back down but if it doesn't look like she wants to, we just bring her into the living room for a couple hours and then she's ready to go back down.

I still haven't learned any Mandarin... I hope I can start picking up on a few words. Jimmy is at a Mandarin class for 3 hours every day so I'm hoping to learn from him. It will be so weird having him gone all day at classes. We'll miss him but I guess it's time to grow up. =)

Brother or Sister?

2011-08-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to announce that Ali will be getting a

little brother

in January! How exciting!! We can't wait to see this little guy! I'm so excited to see what it will be like to have a boy and especially to watch Jimmy- he'll be in heaven! He can't help but smile every time he mentions it.

10 months old!!!

2011-08-21T17:23:00.001-07:00

Ali has made it to the double digits! What a big day!! We can't believe we have a 10 month-old baby! She is so much fun and keeps us on our toes and laughing EVERY DAY! I love watching her curious mind take her everywhere! I have always felt that she had a wise, old spirit, and the older she gets, the more I can see that in her. When she was just a newborn I would look down into her eyes and feel like I was looking into the eyes of an old friend who knows so much. We have been taking a ton of pictures here and there... we just can't get enough of this girl and her cute faces!

After almost dying in this crazy hot summer we've been having I decided that I need to break out the pool every day if we're going to survive. She LOVES it!

She likes to chase little creatures that are crawling on the ground.

Here she is trying to catch an ant.

Ali thinks the sprinklers are the best thing since sliced bread!

Oh the cuteness! I'm so in love!

Maybe it's strange to have so many pictures of your baby sitting in rocks, but it's her favorite place to sit! She loves to sift through the rocks to find just the right one and then pop it into her mouth like a piece of candy. If she's crawling around and comes across a rock, she'll pop it in her mouth and keep on moving without skipping a beat. I just have to watch to make sure it's not a small one that she could choke on (you're wondering why this is the only thing I'm worried about... hehehe). If it is I just say, "Ali, is that a small rock? Give that to Mommy." and she takes it out, hands it to me and finds another one. Honestly, we're taking a little bag of rocks on the plane- strange, but whatever works.

side note: Ali now has TWO teeth (one on bottom and one on top) and I feel like she's working on another.

I bought this book (Fairytale Castle) while on my mission in Czech Republic in hopes that one day I would have kids and that they would think it was pretty neat.

She does... it's makes me happy.

I love these magnets! I'm able to make dinner so much easier with these to distract her.

Plus she's a genius and she needs some place to practice her addition and fractions.

Ha! JK- that was mommy!

I love how she'll pull every book out of her basket several times a day.

She'll pick one up, look at it, then drop it on the floor... and on to the next one until she finds the one that catches her attention at that moment and sit down to get a better look at it.

I like to call this our airplane training. I know you shouldn't let kids this young watch TV but come on people, a full 24 hr travel from here to Shanghai? There has to be some sort of movie going on or we're just not going to make it! So, for the benefit of all those on board we have been playing movies for Ali to get her used to it. We have found a couple that she likes. Now when we ask her, "Do you want to watch a show?" she points to the TV or points the remote at the TV. Here she is showing that she loves something on the TV. And Jimmy is probably happier than he looks. I can guarantee that it's probably 6 am or something early like that.

Pointing to the TV for a "show".

New favorite pic! I wouldn't go posting this of my loveliness for everyone to see but it makes me smile and we're all friends here.

Feeding the chickens with Grandma.

Yes, this is how we get around 'round these parts.

Grandma helped her discover the grandkids' favorite corner cupboard!

She also brought the kids some rohliks from Czech Republic! Truth be told I ended up eating more of these than anyone. I just love them so much and it's been too long! Why do we not have these here? They are delish!... and perfect for a teething baby.

Chinese Baby!

2011-08-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have always loved Asians! Could there be a cuter baby than an Asian baby? I think not! Which is why Jimmy and I have decided to have a Chinese baby. I don't think ours will look Chinese but it sure will be born in China! We are expecting our sweet little addition this January! We feel so excited and blessed to be able to welcome a new baby into our family. We can't wait to cuddle the new little one in about 5 months.

I haven't posted as much over at The Baby Ballyhoo because something weird was happening with blogger and it wouldn't let me keep it private- we didn't want to ruin the surprise! So there are only a few thus far.

Little Sweetie Gets Her FIRST TOOTH!!!

2011-08-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is growing up! Yesterday, after 3 days of a grumpy baby, I felt a little tooth popping out of Ali's bottom gums. She's been a little fussy since we got back from our trip to California and I was worried this was a new side of her personality that she was showing us. I figured since she was a girl this was just the first of many drama-filled-phases. I had been checking for a tooth but yesterday was the first day I felt it after noticing a slight runny nose. I was so excited for her, and sad because she's been in so much pain! Poor thing! But we're glad she's starting to get teeth... we were beginning to wonder if she'd be toothless her whole life!

Here are just some funny pictures I took yesterday. A couple are of her smiling, and a couple are of the faces she's been making to try to communicate how much pain she has been in. Parents are a little slow sometimes.

Saddest faces ever! There are also frustrated growls that go with these sad faces.

Love the smile!

....and the crazy hair!

Crying AND reaching out for HELP!

"Alice" and her Alice book.

Bath time!

9 Months Old!!!

2011-07-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

Ali is 9 months old and the cutest, funnest, loveliest little girl in the world!! She cracks us up daily with her new little faces and the personality that she reveals more and more every day. I feel like just this past week she has grown up so much. She is so aware of everything and we can't believe how well her ears work! She can detect the smallest sound and turns immediately in that direction to check it out!.... even if she's on the verge of falling asleep. =)
Ali's Loves:
Puppies
Books
Blueberries
Babies and children
Tangled
Crawling
Walking around the furniture
Pulling things off shelves and out of boxes and cupboards
Ali's Words:
Momma
Da
Pup
Hi
Ali's New Tricks:
Giving kisses
Waving "hi"Other factoids:

-Ali has also learned how to recognize the word "no" when daddy says it. For now she is very obedient but I have a feeling this will be short lived. She might have inherited her determined (read: stubborn) personality from her parents.
-She is sleeping 10+ solid hours each night!!!!! Thank you, Baby Whisperer! That means that Mommy is getting 8 hours of sleep! Hurrah!!! I never thought this day would come!

-She has learned to be more content while riding in the car. Joy! I can make it to the store and back without her screaming.

Two New Videos!

2011-06-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

What a cutie pie! I love how Ali can just go wherever she wants now!
Mary Alice has developed this very specific way to eat watermelon. It's pretty funny! I can't believe she can tell the difference between the old and new pieces! What a girl!

8 months old!

2011-06-20T19:05:00.001-07:00

What a fun month! Ali is changing and growing up SO much!!

But she still loves her watermelon!

I think she has eaten the equivalent of one whole watermelon in the past 3 days.

One afternoon I decided to pull her hair into a little piggy.

She loves to be with Momma. Here she is baking zucchini muffins with me. What a natural!

This girl is all about standing!! She will use anything around her to pull up and stand. We got this cool toy from Andrea and it is perfect for her now! She loves to stand and push the buttons to make music and sounds. Thanks Ang!

Here are some funny little videos from the past week or so:

***A Baby Whisperer Update***

We love it!!! We have offically been using this method for one week and although we have had ups and downs, it has helped so much! Last Monday got a little harder in the evening but she only woke up twice that night. Tuesday was SUPER hard and I had a good cry to Jimmy but he gave me the encouragement to keep it up. She was only wanting to take 30 minute naps and that meant that I was doing PU/PD for the other hour! Exhasting!! And Sad! I do not like hearing Ali cry! But the nights were still good. We even had a couple nights where she only woke up once! Friday and Saturday were tough because we were getting ready for Melissa's shower and she may have sensed that things were just a little too exciting to sleep. But by Sunday it was GREAT again. She has been taking really good 1 1/2 hour naps since Sunday! Yay!! And she has been waking 3 times to feed but she is definitely going through a growth spurt so I'm fine with waking the extra times to feed. I'm SOOOO happy we started this and that we didn't quit when things got tough. This will help so much while we're traveling this summer and moving to China! We're going to need all the sleep we can get!

BIG DAY!

2011-06-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

(caution- this is more of a journal entry for me- probably not going to be too interesting to most people)

I just need to document what a happy day this is turning out to be. I have been looking forward to it nervously for a week and we are right in the thick of things. A couple weeks ago I picked up some books from the library to see if I could help Ali sleep better. She loves to sleep but she also loves to be cuddled and nurse all night long. I have been feeling like something must be done. I really do not have it in me to let her cry it out till she exhausts herself and falls asleep. I read 3 different books and ended up really liking The Baby Whisperer. It seemed like something I could do. It was spelled out step by step- I needed something like that if I was going to make a change in our routine. The book said to observe for two days and then begin in the morning of the 3rd day. I had been praying about it all weekend and felt that it was a good option for us and that it wouldn't hurt Ali. She has been waking up at 4:30 or 5 am and then I have to nurse her and she will sleep till 5:45 or 6:30. Not so good. And this is after a night of waking every 1, 2 or 3 hours. Really not good! So I nursed her at 3 am and put her back to bed. I had a hard time falling asleep because I knew the next time she woke up we would begin "sleep training" and I was nervous how it would all turn out in the end. At 5 I woke up and was surprised she wasn't awake yet. I waited and finally she woke up at 5:38. Here we go! The book said to give them some milk and then begin PU/PD (pick up/ put down). While I was nursing her I realized she had soiled her diaper, something she NEVER does at night/early morning. So I knew I needed to change her diaper. Ugh! I hoped this wouldn't ruin my chances of getting her back to sleep quickly. I finished changing her diaper and nursing her then I gave her her binky and put her in her crib. I went out of the room because she wasn't crying. She laid there for a few minutes ( I watched her on the monitor) then she sat up, played for a couple more minutes and then started to fuss. Not a full out cry, but just letting me know I had left her in there. I walked back in and picked her up then laid her down. She started to cry so I did PU/PD again. She cried harder and harder as I continued to PU/PD over and over. She has NEVER cried that hard and it was the worst thing ever! I hated hearing her cry like that. She was choking and coughing a little. But I knew she was just having a hard time learning how to change the habit we've been in for almost 8 months. Although I was there with her and not abandoning her, I was beginning to feel like this was just cruel. I was one more PU/PD away from giving up when she stopped crying, turned her head to the right and closed her eyes. I kept my hand on her to help calm her. She did a couple whimpers but within a few minutes she settled completely and fell asleep. Jimmy and I were on the ground (hiding so she wouldn't see us and want us to pick her up), and when we heard that she had fallen asleep we crawled out of the room. It took about 20 minutes but she did it! I did it! I couldn't believe it really worked! Unfortunately I had to go in and wake her at 7 am so she would be ready to fall asleep for her first nap at 9 am. I was a little nervous to have to go through that same situation again but I knew that it had worked once so it should work again. I woke her, fed her and we went to the orchard to pick some peaches. By 8:40 it was time to take her in her room to start winding down for the next nap. We read some books until about 8:55. She was so tired so I decided to try putting her down even though it was 5 minutes early. I gave her her binky, kissed her and laid her down in her crib (FIRST time I had not nursed her before putting her down!). She started crying immediately. I picked her up and put her down. I only had to do this about 6 times before she turned her head again and calmed. I kept my hand on her for a couple minutes and she fell asleep. She has been sleeping for 55 minutes! Even the book said that if you use PU/PD you should expect them to wake up within 40 minutes. She stirred a little at that time, but put herself right back to sleep!!! ***cue Hallelujah chorus!*** This is working!!! I am so excited! What if this means that I am going to be able to sleep more than 2 hours at a time??!! That sounds like the best present anyone could ask for. With my birthday being in a couple weeks, that's just what I may get. I know we still have some bumps ahead and a lot of work but I'm so happy for her that she will be more rested. I'm also so happy for me to be more rested and as a result, a better mom and wife! I can't wait to start Baby Whisperer from the very beginning next time we have a baby! LOVE the book! I highly recommend it! It's worth a try if you're feeling like you need more sleep.

More Mary Alice!

2011-05-30T16:04:00.001-07:00

This little miss is quite the eater and it's a favorite time here in our house because she is SOOOO CUTE when she eats!
And she always loves fresh fruit and veggies out of the garden! Banana peppers are among her favorite things to chew on!Another favorite time of ours is bottle time! This is a brand new thing for Ali. A few days before her 7 month birthday she had a check up and the doctor suggested that we feed her a little prune juice to help when she's constipated. I tried for several days to get her to drink out of a few different sippy cups but she hated them. I should have known she'd be like her momma and prefer a bottle (I LOVED bottles...I was even known to sneak my younger siblings' bottles!). She loved it from the moment we offered it to her. Now every evening we give her a little bottle of juice and/or water and it's a fun cuddle time for whoever gets the privilege of feeding it to her!Just a cute picture of Ali in her clothes hamper. I carried her around the house in this and she just laughed and laughed! She is getting so strong. I'll have to get a picture of her hanging from her crib. She also likes to hang off the pews at church!She LOVES steering wheels! She usually rides to the end of the dirt road with daddy in the driver's seat. And this face is just to die for!! What a cutie pie!! Some people in our ward have horses and we happened to be over when the horses were out and our little one LOVED them! She adores all animals!Well, almost all animals. We caught these baby raccoons a couple days ago in the front yard and when they hissed and snapped at us she didn't like that. They were pretty cute though! Crazy to think they grow up to be such nasty creatures!! We had some fun times out here this spring with all the baby creatures being born. We've had several bird nests around the house and have watched the stages from egg to the time when the babies leave the nest. So fun!

We have news!

2011-05-27T15:39:00.001-07:00

Our little family of 3 will be packing up and moving to China this August!

This is not something we've been thinking about for a long time, but as soon as the idea came, it went so smoothly and feels right. Jimmy will be starting school in the fall at a business school in Shanghai where he'll earn an MBA. I'm so proud of Jimmy for doing so well on his GMAT, being accetped to Hult International Business School and even recieving a scholarship for his high marks! Congrats Jimmy! Mary Alice and I are so excited to be along for the adventure! There are so many things I'm dying to see and experience! Tea rooms, the gardens, the Great Wall of China, the markets, the food- everything about the culture is fascinating!

Nanjing Road above and Shangahi skyline below

We will miss our family and friends so much! But we'll be back and you're all welcome to come and stay with us for a visit!

7 months old!!

2011-05-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late getting Ali's 7 month post up, but we are sure loving having a 7-month-old! She is so fun and keeps us on our toes! We love playing with her and watching all the new things she is developing! Here are some photos of a few things we've been enjoying:

Cute smiles and darling rolls!...

Watching Ali learn how to eat cheerios and puffs!...

She's really good at getting them in her mouth!

Reading, relaxing and playing the piano!

She has SO many toys but usually, like a normal

baby, she would rather play with the packaging!

You have to enlarge the picture below to get the full cuteness of it!

She makes the CUTEST owl sound when she makes this face!

I can't get enough of it!

I have been enjoying these two!! They couldn't get any cuter and it melts my heart seeing them together! Ali LOVES her daddy and he can make her laugh without even trying!

Bath time! She loves sitting up in the tub now

and strains to sit up the whole time we're

washing her hair! So cute!

We usually just take her clothes off to feed her.

It makes clean up so much easier!

Plus she loves to go over to the sink to wash off!

Mother's Day! What can I say? The day was magical and it makes me cry just thinking about how happy I am that I got to be with my little baby on my first Mother's Day. She makes me so happy and I am grateful every day that I am her mother. Being a mother is the greatest blessing in my life! I love every minute of it!

By the way, this is how she got so good at eating cheerios- picking everything up off the ground outside and putting it in her mouth! Leaves, yum!

The Royal Wedding!

2011-04-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

There was tea, cucumber sandwiches and a princess!

Thanks to Mom's fancy dishes we had a delicious brunch.

They added just the right touch!

She would have really made it fancy if she were here!

I remember the day of Princess Diana's funeral, Mom had the TV on for the coverage all day. It still brings a tear to her eye.

Of course, this is a happy day, but Mom would be proud of us bringing a bit of the royal family event into her home.

We had such a splendid time celebrating the royal wedding at our house!

The girls wore tiaras and the boys wore hats... except Adam, he said his glasses were enough.

Adam said the only way he made it through it was being able to have his computer.

Jimmy was in pain as he waited for us to finish the food.... and as soon as he ate, he was gone!

But we're proud of him for staying in the same room as us!

Erick was a bit more into of our fancy brunch!

And it's no surprise that Melissa and I were the most excited attendees!

What a perfect day, a beautiful wedding and a fun tea party!

SOWT

2011-04-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

On Monday we drove to Biloxi, Mississippi to be a part of Adam's graduation. He has accomplished another huge feat by graduating from weather school at Keesler AFB.

The whole weather class.

These three guys are the only SOWT out of their whole class. SOWT stands for Special Operation Weather Team... that still may not communicate the level of awesomeness that these guys are. They are probably the most hard core humans alive! The things they have been through and will go through are crazier than anything I can imagine. They have become such good friends and it's fun to see them together.

We are SO proud of Adam. Keep it up Bud!

Easter With Our Little Bunny!

2011-04-24T19:39:00.001-07:00

We started Easter with a delicious breakfast...then found our Easter baskets and candy!

We are so grateful that our Savior lived and died for us! What a wonderful day and a beautiful season to celebrate His resurrection!

1/2 of a year!!

2011-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

Our baby is

6 months old!!

We absolutely LOVE this little girl! She has been the sunshine in our lives for the past six months and we are so glad she joined our family! We can't believe it's already been half a year and can't imagine our lives without her!

Updates:

We took Ali swimming and she loved it even more than we thought she would! It was the cutest thing in the world and we can't wait to take her again!

She is an eating champ! In addition to the foods mentioned last month she eats prunes, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, watermelon, strawberries and pears (the last 3 are her favorites!)!

She is getting so good at sitting up and she now goes from a sitting position forward onto all fours. Maybe this month she will attempt crawling!

Favorite activities: riding with her daddy in the Ranger and reading books.

Two things that she does all day long: babble and stick her tongue out. We have tried to record these things but every time the camera turns on she stops and stares at it. One thing we have been able to get is this cute thing she does with her mouth.

Ali is getting SO active! She is to the stage where if she wants something she practically lunges at it with her full body and you're just glad you were holding onto her enough. It's fun to see her personality develop!

She weighs 17.1 pounds

Coming up next week: an all day car trip to Mississippi... please, pray for us!!!

Ali's First Day at the Beach!

2011-04-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

What a great day! We had SO much fun taking Mary Alice to the beach for the first time! She loves water, wind and being outside so it was the perfect outing for her!

Jimmy and I have spent many Saturdays on this beach but this was the best so far! We love experiencing these firsts with this sweet girl!

Relief!!

2011-04-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ali started eating solids last week and is LOVING it! I think I had mentioned that we tried them about a month ago and it seemed a little early. It is very clear that she is ready now! She loves eating and is getting so good at it! It's amazing how quickly these little ones catch on. We started her on rice cereal since we had heard that it was very easy to digest but then we were starting to worry that her pipes were plugged! I felt for bad for her because she is usually very regular. After two days of prunes (thanks for the tip Aunt Annie!) it ALL came out! This little girl has never been happier in her whole life!!The flavor was a new experience and she made some really funny faces!

She sits!

2011-03-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Mary Alice has been trying to get the hang of this sitting up thing and we think she definitely has it now! She can sit up by herself and play with her toys and it is the cutest thing!! How is she such a big girl already? Babies learn so much in such a short amount of time!ps- remember glow worms? she loves hers!