Where are we now?

It's been a crazy two or three weeks since I last posted. I could probably write a multi-volume work, but time and internet constraints will force me to limit my words :)

Slightly before leaving country for Thailand, we decided it was apartment moving time. Archie sure had fun helping pack!

One of the only complications was a little fall I took outside our old apartment a few days before the scheduled move. Although both Grace and I are ok, we had to make a little emergency trip to Beijing to prevent her arrival six weeks early. (A little scary because due to complicated circumstances and time of day, I had to go by myself - leaving Hunt and Archie to fend for themselves at home.)

I'm glad Archie was a help with the boxes because upon my return, I had to stay in bed or on the sofa until our departure.

The other complication: We unexpectedly parted ways from our middle school the day before we left, which has left us puzzling over our visa situation. We're going to need a new visa to get back to our new apartment and stuff once Grace is born!

We spent a few days in Beijing en route to Thailand. Traveling days are rough days for Archie so he needed a little comfort from Daddy at the airport.

He did enjoy the Tex-Mex we had in Beijing, though. YUMMY!

Now we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We met up with some friends who live in South Asia for lunch and a trip to the playground. Archie likes his new friend Aashini.

I know I cut his head off in this pic, but look at his smile. He was certainly a "Happy Camper."

How does Archie like our new surroundings? Well, traveling has been a bit hard on him. Even harder were his doctor appointments the first two days we were in Thailand when we went on a whirlwind trip to the pediatrician, dentist and pediatric eye specialist. He got a nebulizer treatment for "pre-asthma" at the first stop (not too fun for a little guy), a good report at the dentist (unfortunately, also not too fun when your father, two nurses and the doctor have to hold you down) and a directive to patch his lazy eye two hours daily at the last stop. I am sure this will be an ongoing saga. He's doing ok with it on Day 2.

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 :)