catching up finally!

Okay, finally this blog thing should be working, it's been almost a month since I have posted. Sorry it's taken so long, believe me we've tried to get this going more than once but it was not cooperating from our house.

Here's some pictures which I know you are keen to see. First things first, Dana has been smiling quite a bit these days and is almost able to roll from her stomach to her back by herself! I guess we can't park her on the bed unattended anymore!

She likes to smile with her tongue sticking out. Sometimes she gives me these great half smiles too, with just one side of her mouth curling. "Piao liang!" is an exclamation I hear a lot when I'm out with the kids, it means beautiful or lovely. Lots of people think that Eli is a girl no matter what he wears because he has his gorgeous blue eyes with long eyelashes and curly blonde hair. (It is also time for him to get a haircut again.)
This is our courtyard that we share between 3 buildings. It's much larger than what you can see here, but it gives you the idea of the kind of green space we have, there are more trees and grassy areas with pathways to walk on and a fountain near the entrance of our development. They pipe in music sometimes in the evening (good ol' Kenny G) out of rock-like speakers to make the environment as calm and peaceful as possible.
Eli is in the guest room in this picture. It will be Dana's room eventually but right now she rooms with us. There is a lot of dark wood: floor and closets mostly, we really like it. We are on the main floor and have windows on three sides, so it feels very house-like actually.

A family shot of us. Pretty hard to get Eli to look at the camera without turning his head away 1.5 seconds later.

One of our views from our windows. Lots of cranes working on the various new developments around our place. They start at 6am and work until 7pm. We see the workers walk or ride their bikes back from work with their characteristic orange hard hats (that don't look that hard actually, more of a uniform than a safety feature I'd say).

Our living room. We have a different couch and chair now. The ones you see here were lent to us by our landlord but we opted for more child friendly and comfortable ones. We bought chocolate brown couches with forest green pillows and we are quite happy with them. Eli already jumps all over them and has fallen off, so we think we should look into getting one or two area rugs too, to cushion his falls.

You'll have to look sideways on this one, it's our kitchen complete with an oven! (unheard of usually in Chinese kitchens). I made cookies the other day and am really glad we have one. Everything is new as nobody has lived in our place before us. It was newly renovated last November and sat vacant until we moved in.

Yesterday we bought some plants, I did some reading on-line about "growing clean air" and found that spider plants, rubber plants and English ivy (among others) are good air-cleaning plants to have inside your house, so basically every room with a window has at least one plant in it. I would like to get lots, but Scott is not as keen as me to have a jungle-like living space.

Tomorrow for our 6th wedding anniversary Scott secured a car with driver to take us to the Great Wall for the whole day. We got a baby-sitter for Eli and we'll take Dana with us. Scott and I have been to the Great Wall before, just over six years ago so we are pretty excited to be able to go again and celebrate our anniversary in this way.

Our language classes start in September but of course language learning has already started unofficially. I love having Eli and Dana with me because people just flock to them and make a lot of the same comments and questions which I am starting to recognize and reply to. Life is good and busy.

taiwan times

Here are some pictures letting you know about how our trip went to get to Taiwan. It was quite the adventure, we were really exhausted when we got here but now are not really suffering much jet lag and we've only been here 48 hours! Because I have to be up every 3-4 hours to feed Dana, I'm not really noticing it anyway.

This is Eli at the airport during our 6 hour layover, it was about 1:00am (our time) and he did not slow down! There were so many "trucks" to push around, he tired himself out really well. It worked out reasonably well as a result as he slept for a large part of our 11-hour flight, with only 2 major meltdowns (that did not really last that long) in total. I think that was about as good as we could expect for a two-year old. I was certainly glad that I brought some extra clothes for both kids, nothing like rinsing Eli's poopy shorts in an airport bathroom during turbulence!

And here's Dana in her stroller at the airport. She did really well and we were glad to have a place to lay her for her naps on the plane. Neither Eli nor Dana seemed to have any ear-popping pain during the take-off or landing which was great.

This is our house for 2 weeks; very, very, very nice and spacious, supplied with more toys than we left behind even! It is located on a boarding school/international school compound, a lot of staff have gone back to the States for the summer so we are able to use it. It has air-conditioning and that is really a necessity here. I am reminded so much of Thailand with the heat and humidity here not to mention the delicious fresh fruit that we are able to buy at various markets within walking distance. I am becoming a bubble-tea addict. It is iced green or black tea with tapioca balls in it with an extra big straw to suck them up. Really tasty and thirst-quenching.

Eli has made some friends with the neighbours by "borrowing" their toys. If it has wheels, he loves it and claims it as his own and attempts to drive it away.

There is a park right behind our house and Eli has taken a liking to the swings. We had a hard time getting him off and he likes to be pushed so he goes high, although his face at first betrays a look of terror. Scott has started getting up early to go for runs and I joined him this morning at 6:00am (if we go later, it is too hot). We went at the 400m track which is near the park. It feels good to jog again, I'm super slow, but you have to start somewhere right?

and off we go

It's about an hour until we leave for the airport, Eli is still napping and so is Dana. I can't put a picture on here right now because we can't think of where we packed the cord for the camera to go to the computer. Oh well, I'm not about to make a huge search for it now. We're feeling pretty good and we're ready to go...generally encouraged and excited. Our flight leaves at 1930 and we get to Vancouver for a 6 hour layover and then back on the plane for our 12 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. It will be early Monday morning when we arrive (local time). At last, the long awaited airplane ride for Eli. Let's hope we all do well and can nap lots! I'll hopefully post again when some of the dust settles soon...

the b.c trip

We went on a whirlwind trip to B.C. so Dana could meet all my side of the family. This picture sums up the warm greeting we got in Prince George. Malcolm showed his enthusiasm for his new cousin consistently, Jacob remarked at how bald she was and said "I like Eli better!" Isaac was also more interested in Eli and shared his toys better than Eli did while we were there.

I took this picture on Father's Day, Rob napping beside his oldest son. Rob is always on the go, doing lots of work, whether he's at work or at home. It was great to get some days with him. I liked being able to help him paint the laundry room/bathroom and chat and laugh it up some.

Dana meets her uncle Albert. I also have some great shots of Albert napping with Dana on his chest. Albert is probably the brother most likely to visit us when we go, he is no stranger to traveling and enjoys it. He also has this way of getting my dad to go places too...maybe, just maybe they will come together sometime...

Here's Isaac on the day we went to Berman Lake. Eli loved going for a canoe ride (his first). Even now, when we say grace, Eli thanks "Gigi" (Jesus) for the "red boat". I think he liked it better than his tractor ride.

Here's Jacob showing off his goggles. In the span of a couple of days, Jacob learned to ride his bike without training wheels! We won't forget words he said when we left to go back to Edmonton: "Uncle Scott, I love you."

Father's Day this year also happened to be Eli's 2nd birthday. Tricia -- who amazes me with what she is able to do on top of being a mom to 3 boys with a 4th baby on the way -- whipped up a delicious banana cake with cream cheese icing and we had a little party in the evening.

Here's Eli being coached on how to blow out the candles. He had such a good time with his cousins and can't stop talking about them. I know that even though he won't get to see them as often now, they are already great friends and will continue to be.

Auntie Tricia getting some cuddle-time in with baby Dana. Only ten or so more weeks until Tricia and Rob's 4th (and final Tricia says) baby is born. We are looking forward to finding out who he or she will be.

Then we had some time in Williams Lake. We went on a mini-hike to Scout Island and my dad showed us lots of different things that we would not have noticed otherwise. Always equipped with binoculars and a magnifying glass, my dad really enriched the experience. I like it when my dad gets in his teaching mode, he really has a knack for it. I got to go for a walk with my dad on one of his power walks. He carried a heavy pack and dumbells while I merely carried Dana. I really liked that.

My mom was on Eli duty and so her pace and prefences had to match his. Eli had to go in the water and once we got him in, it was hard to coax him out. I think grandparents have more patience than parents sometimes.

And then it was time to say goodbye. I'm really not good at those. Part of me would rather just be whisked away without the chance to say goodbye. I wished we had more time to spend with Otto, but he wasn't feeling well for part of the time we were there and the kids stressed him out a bit so he needed his alone time. I also wish I had more time to talk with my mom...sigh...

We got home and are back in "get rid of everything" mode, but I still take the slugs for walks daily. Today the couches went, on Saturday the car goes, on Tuesday the piano goes...little by little we are uprooting and readying ourselves to be planted elsewhere, far away elsewhere. It's becoming more real now...

my new normal...

Here's Eli going for the planting of a "mwiss" (kiss) on his sister.

Smooch! Sometimes Eli's hugs and kisses are a little rough, but Dana seems to take this in stride and Scott and I make sure we are nearby whenever Eli is able to get at Dana. He is an affectionate little guy, that's for sure. So far he is doing great at adapting to having a new sister. Once in a while he likes to shake her playpen, or toss whatever he happens to have in his hands at her while she is sleeping (like a small metal car, or his sippy cup!). Thankfully his aim is not great and Dana is a small (but growing) target.

Here's a picture of little awake Dana at three weeks of age. Has it really been three weeks? It seems as though she has always been here, or at least been here for longer than that. She is a very good baby, proficient at the big three: eating, sleeping and pooping. We are so thankful for her, she is just beautiful...as you can see.

it's a girl!

Here are her adorable feet. Dana Olga was born on Tuesday May 15th at 0849. She weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and measured 19.5 inches. I remember telling Scott the night before: "I'm pretty sure I'm having a boy." so I was really surprised and elated to hear the words "IT'S A GIRL!" Pam and Scott were there for me and were great sources of support throughout my labour, although I did tell Scott to not tell jokes during my contractions at one point. I thank God for a short and smooth labour, I got to the hospital at 0530 and Dana arrived about 3 hours later. God is good.

Here's a picture of us on postpartum day 3. Dana has just finished feeding so is feeling pretty satisfied and chipper. Eli was having his afternoon nap and it was a peaceful and restful day to be inside as it was raining and cool outside. I had a much better night of sleep the night before, but the bags under my eyes let you know that I could of course still use more sleep. Such is the fleeting plight of a new mother! I'm trying to keep it in perspective.

My mom's here and she is being such a great help to us: cooking, baking, cleaning up a storm. Today we took Eli swimming before his bedtime and were trying to teach him to jump into the water from the edge of the pool. He still hasn't quite gotten it, I think he needs his cousins around to model it for him in order to get motivated and inspired to do it. He is taking the arrival of his sister in stride, we're really proud of him.

canmore bliss

I had the opportunity to go to Canmore with Pam and her mom last week for a few days. It was wonderful to get away into the mountains and relax. Even though Scott would rather not have to take care of Eli himself, he does notice how refreshed I am when I come back and therefore is generally in favour of my mini-getaways with Pam. Of course it was great to come home too. Maybe one of the best things about going away is the chance to come home again.


We did a number of touristy things: we took the gondola in Banff and did the mini-hike at the top, we went to Lake Louise, we swam in the pool at the resort that we got to stay at with Pam's mom, we treated ourselves each to a massage and ate barbecue steaks for two out of the three nights. I was able to catch the sunrise two out of three mornings too. In short: we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was truly time well spent as I don't know if i will be able to make another trip to the Rockies before we go.