Our Family of Three: Summer Photo Shoot

We will change from a family of three to a family of four in approximately 37 days, so I wanted to seize the opportunity for one (perhaps final) family of three photo shoot.

Special thanks to friends Nick (our cameraman) and Preston (our baby wrangler - this is a professional term for the person who assumes responsibility for getting the baby to smile during the shoot - and what a great job he did :)




Belly shots: 33 weeks pregnant

Even trees need IVs!

Do you remember the last time we talked about IVs? People seem to get them here even for the slightest illness. (Although, I must say the one I got for my stomach bug helped tremendously.) Anyway, I almost laughed out loud the other day when I noticed the amount of trees in our courtyard hooked up to IVs. I am really hoping some of you are botanists (or at least tree lovers) and can tell me if this is a commonly done practice in America. Even my language tutor seemed a little surprised when I pointed the trees out.

Full tree shot

IV bag

IV needle (or whatever goes into a tree base)

Just so you can see how common the practice is, I'm posting another tree for good measure.

Never ending pajamas!

Hunt's parents sent the PJ's on the left in the 18 month size, and Archie has been enjoying them regularly for quite some time (as you can probably tell from the fade from frequent washing). Imagine our delight when we realized his sports PJ fun doesn't have to end anytime soon! Totally unaware of Archie's 18 month PJs, my parents sent the SAME PJs in the 24 month size. SCORE for us! How funny! They're Little Me brand, and that's one of my favorites because the stuff is just so cute. (The one thing to be aware of is the sizes run a little small - especially in the 0-12 month sizes.)

Grace already has an extensive clothing collection going thanks to the generosity of our parents and Aunt Kay. Here's a sampling of some of her newborn goods. Some friends brought the stuff over, and I had such fun unpacking everything.

Long Spring City: Train ride home

Archie had so much fun in Long Spring City, he was exhausted by the time we left. He slept the ENTIRE train trip home - not waking up until we pulled into the station. Isn't he precious?

And here are the wake up shots - made just before getting off...

Stretch!

Yawn!

Cute!

This is actually not the train we rode, but I just like train pictures. Note the guy sitting at the back of the engine car.

Long Spring City!

Hunter and I recently had the opportunity to visit some friends in a nearby city I'll call "Long Spring City". (That's a rough English translation anyway :) We had a great time visiting them. I didn't take as many pics as I meant, but I'll share what I have.

Right around the corner from where we stayed was a little breakfast restaurant we could get fried pancake type things, porridge and, to my delight, free all-you-can-drink bean juice (roughly like soy milk). While I always enjoy the stuff, I must admit it has become a craving during pregnancy. Archie's favorite thing was playing in the ball pit.

He also enjoyed going to the park and watching the kites. (His favorite was watching people walk their dogs, but I didn't get pics of that.)


The park had a free dance show. It was interesting, but Archie liked it (for a few minutes anyway). Below is a hospital across from the park. I just posted the pic because I think the architecture is pretty.

Cooking local style and more

After living overseas for nearly two years, I've FINALLY learned to cook a little like the locals. I've found the key to making my food vaguely resemble what we eat in restaurants and what our friends cook is to use more oil than you could imagine possible and dump in the salt. I'm kind of ashamed to say I haven't learned to cook more, but I guess I'll take progress anywhere I can get it.

The dish on the right is a stalky green vegetable fried with pork pieces and the dish on the right is stir fried egg and tomato. These are both dishes so easy anyone should be able to cook them! I can also make a yummy noodle dish if I cheat a little and buy half-prepared sauce :)

I took Archie to play at a nearby college the other day. I thought he looked cute standing by the fence.

One of our friends mom's came over to visit the other day. It was a nearly constant photo shoot for Archie, but he enjoyed the attention :)