More Random Pictures From Hong Kong

1st Anniversery of Trip to China

I was going to title this post "First Anniversery of the Nightmare Plane Adventure to China" but there is no way the trip to China, no matter how miserable that 16 hour flight may have been, could be considered a nightmare. It resulted in the most incredible event of our lives. One year ago today Terrell, I and my mother boarded a plane here in our little East Coast town and connected to Newark for the 16 hour flight to Hong Kong. Those of you who have been around for a while will remember my post from Hong Kong wherein I indicated I had "freaked out" 8 hours into the flight and Terrell thought that might be an excellent time to pull out the video camera. Luckily for him, I've never seen that footage. My mom and I have been reminescing about the flight the past couple of days. We were beyond shocked with the reality of a 16 hour flight. You say the words but the reality is far different. That plane got so small even though it was a gigantic 777. As my mom said, how the heck does something that big stay in the air THAT long??? My dad watched our entire flight path on-line and he knew the minute we had landed in Hong Kong. Oh, what a relief we felt to finally get off of that plane. Yes, we had been awake and traveling for 24 hours and we were in a country half way across the world. But we were on solid ground and all we needed to do was navigate the airport, find money, figure out how to get a cab and arrive at our hotel 30 minutes away. Not to mention we were only 3 magical days away from our daughter. I can't believe it's been an entire year. These are pictures of us on the plane, landing, just off of the plane and from our hotel. Terrell said "Wow, that is a rough picture of you, it doesn't even look like you" - well, it did at the time. ( And who was he at the time? Hugh Jackman?) A year later I feel all warm and fuzzy about this trip!

I need to add a little extra something to this post. Most moms, if they can be, are there for the birth of their grandchildren. When I asked my mom if she wanted to go to China because she would provide me much comfort and I didn't know how the hell to be a new mom, she said yes. She added that she had been present for the birth or soon thereafter the birth of each of her kid's first children and this would be no different. But this was a bit different. She traveled across the world with me to get my daughter. That is freaking amazing if you ask me. Thank you mom.

A Little Late - But These Pictures Are Incredible

I've been busy, busy and Jia has been busy, busy but I wanted to take a moment to post some incredible pictures her Aunt Lisa took at the Children's Museum. Best wishes to all.

Easter Bunny Says Must Eat Chocolate

How is it that the Easter Bunny came but I'm the one eating all the chocolate? Like I didn't KNOW that was going to happen - Jia doesn't even GET much chocolate! It makes her kind of kooky. We've had a wonderful holiday. I took a couple of days off to enjoy spring break with the cousins. We traveled to Washington DC and visited some sites. I have so much to say about our time together that I will post that in a different post. I'm tired, trying to eat dinner and get a few pictures on the blog. Thanks to Laura and Natalie for the tips on sleep. I looked desperately at T one night and asked for room darkening shades. Remarkably they seem to have made all the difference for Jia's sleep issues. Ah, the simple solutions. Light outside? Playtime. Dark? Sleepy time. We'll see how long this solution lasts. As with all things children, every day is a different experience. As these pictures will depict, Jia loves her chocolate almost as much as her mommy loves a martini! I love this little bugger more than I can express.

p.s. Thank you Cindy - Jia LOVED her duck and the bubbles and froggy. :) This was a very thoughtful thing you did - as usual.

Life as Mom

Occasionally I get really impatient with Jia. It is usually only at bedtime. We've changed our sleeping arrangements and I now lay down with Jia in the big girl bed until she falls asleep and then I get up and have the only time of the day that truly belongs to me. I sleep with her in the big girl bed so we wake together. I get between an hour and a half and two hours to myself each day and this in the evening. This time is precious to me. I've given up my formerly "precious" morning time and now only have that 1-2 hours every night. Lately Jia has needed less sleep and wants to go to sleep closer to 8 or 9 pm. We have to get up at 5:30 ish on work days and I'm an early to bed kind of person so that means in my pre-mommy days I'd go to bed at 9:30 or so. I really struggle to stay up much past that. I came downstairs at 10:20 pm last night after finally getting Jia to go to sleep. Tonight I asked T to come up and help me at 8:30 because she still was not asleep. Thank goodness for him. It bothers me how impatient I get with her. It's not her fault she isn't sleepy. It's not her fault that once she's asleep and I try to creep out of the bed she sits up and cries. But I really struggle with not being frustrated with the whole situation. Once she's old enough not to pull at my legs and cry and whine when she's tired (this usually starts around 6:30 or 7pm) then I'll not stress so much. But I can't get dinner going or do anything I need to do when all she wants is to be held and suck her thumb (signs she's tired - right? I mean she's fed, watered, etc. - yes, I know she's not a plant mom, heh heh) . So I take her upstairs for bath, reading and snuggle bedtime but she lately has begun to think this is now super play time with mommy. Any suggestions? In the meantime, here are beautiful pics from last weekend. I feel soooo guilty when I feel frustrated with Jia. She is such a beautiful, delightful, easy-going child. I think I just need a mommy's night out, which I haven't had since we became a family. I believe it's time for Daddy to take over nights for a while.

Laundry

I have a wonderful husband. Yes, I know I've said that on countless posts. He is wonderful in so many ways. One of the things I really appreciate these days is that he is so very helpful around the house. He does FAR more of the daily chores and tasks around here than I. I have primary baby duty so it works out.

But let's talk for a minute about laundry. When we built our house we bought new appliances, washer and dryer included. I purchased a pretty fancy set much to dear hubby's dismay. Not THAT fancy (not the kind you see on TV) but better than what he had in mind. He was all set on the small set with wash options of big, medium and small and hot and cold. I'm now rethinking my choice. Terrell does laundry regularly. All the moms reading this will be jealous. Right? But let's talk about his strategy. He places more laundry than I thought possible in one washer. It must take his elbow to get it all stuffed in there. He then, I'm convinced, proceeds to shove this load into the dryer with his foot. He must use his shoulder to coax the door closed, he then pushes the"Normal" load setting and walks away. A day or two later I innocently approach the laundry room with a truly "normal" load and once it's time to dry I open the dryer and have a burst of clothes come forth reminiscent of those old speaker commercials that then hit the floor and scare me flat against the back wall. It's pretty doggoned amazing. This is today's inventory of what I HAD TO FOLD from just one load:

4 Large Bath Towels (you know, the big fluffy kind)
2 Large Hand Towels
2 Pair of Khakis
1 Golf Shirt
5 Pairs Boxers
4 Pairs My Undies
4 Pairs of Socks
1 Big Sweatshirt
1 Pair of Sweatpants

Holy Batman! I love this guy. I just wish he added "folding" to the definition of doing laundry. :)

Over the Top

Sometimes that's how I feel about my day to day life. It seems these days I rarely have time to pause and do anything other than what life demands. I know we can't let life pass too fast. It's important to find the minutes to reflect on those moments that make our lives matter most. It's not work (although that is certainly of critical importance in supporting a loving, warm and comfortable life) and it's not "accomplishments" that drive happiness. It's the little moments that make you laugh or smile or reflect on whatever it is that makes you happy. In my case, it's the opportunity to be with my family and friends and how they so often make me laugh out loud. Jia makes that happen for me pretty often. Tonight on the way home from LaLa's, her favorite song came on - I'm not sure of the title but it's a Beyonce song with the words "all the single ladies". It makes Jia go absolutely wild. I was at a stop light and started to clap to the (not very discernable) beat and Jia started to do the same. So there I was, driving home after a rather miserable work day, clapping hands to the beat of a Beyonce song with my smiling, giggling 21 month old daughter. That is the good stuff of life.

Jia with LaLa

A few wonderful pictures of Jia with her beloved LaLa and cousins (who belong to LaLa - there are other cousins we miss terribly in IL of course). A few in the house, a couple in the snow. All wonderful.

p.s I know I'm not the only one to notice how beautiful LaLa is. And believe me, I know how unbelievably lucky I am to have her take such remarkable care of Jia while I work. I won't even go in to how jealous I am of her energy, joy, kindness and wit! Jia loves her LaLa.

Jia Loves Her Room

These are a few pictures of us spending time in Jia's room. I'm so pleased that she loves her room so much. It clearly has nothing to do with my decorating ability (clearly lacking) but it's HER space. She loves her new "big girl bed" and asks frequently to get in even when it is not nap time or bed time. We disassembled her crib about a month ago after she had most certainly rejected it but left the crib mattress on the floor and she likes to read and bounce and roll on it.

Our little girl is happy in her world and her mom and dad are indescribably happy in her world.

The Day That Lasted 2400 Hours

Oh my, oh my. A snow day. I don't know if any of you recall a much earlier post where I so adamantly exclaimed that no one would ever actually "stay home" with a child. That term is a misnomer. No one would actually stay inside with a child. Unless you have to. I had to. Oh my, oh my. We did wander out into the big drifts of snow which Jia was not so thrilled about. I pulled out every toy, every trick, every song, every plea to entertain our wonderfully smart and needs to be stimulated at all times daughter. We played in every room in the house, took a bath in the "big tub" for the first time with all the letters, numbers and jacuzzi bubbles a girl could possibly want. (I was in a bathing suit in the middle of winter and she had on her Swimmers (no - I don't trust her) and it was like going to the pool!) My husband asked if I was going to wear the little white crocheted bikini he bought me many (many, many, many lbs) years ago and I said no, I blow my nose with that little thing these days!

We truly had a wonderful day, no matter how much mommy likes to make fun of it. I'm tired, happy, dreading trying to drive in this mess tomorrow - but again, happy. The County didn't clear our street so it will truly be a challenge. I thought I might call and tell them they missed our street but I suspect after I do they'd hang up, laugh and say to their fellow operators, "hey, fellas (insert obscene gesture here), we missed a street - hahahahaha." Oh well.

What the Heck is this Stuff???

Jia has officially experienced her first snowfall! Luckily that cute little snow suit I bought some months ago still fits! As you can see she is not quite sure what to think about this white, cold stuff. It makes her nose run and her cheeks turn pink - which is how I've always felt about the snowy, wet, and cold part of winter! Fortunately we don't get too much in our part of the world but it is exciting when it's coming down. And boy, is it ever coming down! Even Nora, our dog, is ramped up and skidding around in the back yard! We haven't had this much snow in over 4 years, well, make that 7 years. It hasn't snowed this much since I"ve been back in town! Anyway, enjoy the pics - I'll try to get more tomorrow - that is if we brave the 10 inches we're expected to get!!!!