She's an Animal!

I have a terror on my hands! She has the energy of a wild rabbit, the toughness of a tiger, and the behavior of a monkey, but she cuddles like a puppy. All 22 months of her, make me crazy! Add to it her lack of sleep, and I have myself wired for the coo-coo house. Each morning she is up by 6 a.m. She tip-toes across the marble-floor apartment (which actually sounds like a penguin waddling on a wet surface), jumps into our king bed, and softly massages my cheeks with the palm of her hand, giving sweet kisses on my forehead and lips. You can hardly be upset by this. So, I get up, we eat breakfast together and start the coffee.

Fast forward through lots of play time, books read on repeat, and a battle of food during the lunch hour, and we have nap time! It's really the same routine each day... I tell her it's rest time. She says, "No!" I say "Yes!" She says, "No!" I lie her down, rub her back, rock her in the chair, pretend I'm sleeping too, leave the room. She comes out. I put her back. She comes out. I put her back. She comes out. I put her back and try the tricks again. I threaten to take away playdates. She outsmarts me. We do it again. By the time she's finally asleep, we get about 45 min to 1 hour of rest before bus duty with the older two. Great.

A Glimpse at Repatriation

Remember back to that college spring break trip. You headed out on the road with a few of your besties, looking to have the week of your life, ready to be who you wanted and do what you wished. You were free in a sense. And you lived it up! You explored, you partied, you rested, and you met so many new friends. You stayed up late and talked about everything you knew at that point. Then the week wrapped up and you said good-bye to those you met, you shared a hug, said good-luck, and piled back into your parents borrowed vehicle to return home.

Embracing Faith

When we chose a school for the kids here in Shanghai, there were so many factors that played into it -- proximity to home and work, teachers and curriculum, repatriation factors, language opportunities, extra-curriculars, reputation, testing scores, campus and more. When choosing Concordia, the Christian foundation was an added bonus for us. We hadn't attended parochial school at home, the kids weren't enrolled in weekly bible study, nor did we worship as regularly as we wished. But, what we've found is that this school, and it's foundation, have blessed us in more ways than we could imagine.

Bring on the Play Therapy!

It's probably fair to say that I have a paranoia in my parenting when it comes to the healthcare of my kids, but we've experienced a few things throughout the toddler years, so I often try to justify my freakish-self-diagnosing habits. Just imagine my Google searches when we had a 6-week preemie, discovered a peanut-allergy, found a double astigmatism, treated clostridium difficile, or were scheduled for double tubes...

There is a new one on the table now: speech and language delay.

Toilet Humor

Maybe you saw how excited we were when Alayna learned to use the squatter... or maybe you recently read about how different some things are here.... Well, this one takes the cake!

Seriously, the back of the stall door had picture-directions on how to use the toilet in Shanghai!

So, which is your favorite stance?

Home Visit Anticipation

Many of you read my story about starting anti-depressants in the third trimester of my most recent pregnancy. It was a slow process to come off of those tiny blue pills, and by the time I did, I was talking to my doctor about keeping some on hand for our international move around the world.

To my surprise, I haven't even considered using that crutch. I've truly transitioned to this new lifestyle very well, and have built a strong backbone while adapting so far apart from my family whom I relied on daily back home. What I've come to now realize, after three months of living abroad, is that the mental preparation of visiting home is causing me more anxiety than I presumed. 

Today marks just a month until I get to spread my love to our family. And while I'm really excited to wrap my arms around them (and meet my tiny, sweet niece for the first time)... I'm also really scared.

I know... that sounds so crazy, right?

Welcome to the World, Kingsley!

Different time zones is one thing. 13 hours apart is torture!

As a matter of fact, the moment she texted me saying she was on her way to the hospital, I was a nervous wreck. My hands were tied. I couldn't drive there, I couldn't wait outside the room, I couldn't get giddy with the rest of the family, I couldn't feel the excitement among the hospital, I couldn't pace the halls, I couldn't check on her or give her a kiss, or ensure that she was okay. I was relying on crappy internet signals for the news. And when she didn't respond fast enough, I was texting my mom.

My baby sister was in labor, blessing our family with another child, and I wasn't there. I remember getting out of the shower that morning, and just crying because I wanted nothing more than to get on that plane. I locked myself in the bathroom, letting the tears fall. I knew I couldn't change it, so I had to buck up. After many updates, I finally received that message telling me it'd be the last text for a while because the contractions were getting stronger. Oh, the anticipation! My adrenaline was pumping!

Epic Cookie Fail

I stay at home now. I volunteer at school. I attend Mommy-and-Me playgroup once a week. I bake.

Well, kind of. 

A couple weeks ago, I received my first shipment and I was so excited to pull out all the kitchenware... we finally had cookie sheets! So off I went to the market to find vanilla and baking soda and flour, and all the other necessities to keep the house smelling fresh and the kids' tummy's full of yum-yum treats. And I did it! I made some of the best, chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever! I had found a recipe online, because God-forbid you find Tollhouse chips here with the recipe on the back. And while I had to do the metric conversions and I still didn't have measuring utensils, I did my best guess at the amounts needed for each of the ingredients.

Ta-da! They were fab! We took them to a friends' home for dinner and all six kids raved.

Fast-forward a couple weeks, and Cade has a party at school, so he asks me to make those same cookies for his classmates. Sure, I thought, I can rock these again! At conferences his teacher even mentions that they've been hearing all about these cookies for the past two days and the two classes are really looking forward to giving them a taste. Oh, the pressure!

A bit different

Hey Toto, we're not in Cedar Rapids anymore!

Everything is a little different here. Thankfully, I met a girlfriend from my building early on who had only been here in Shanghai a couple months longer than I. But, she had completed other expats assignments (most recently Germany), and to me, she is a pro-expat-mama! She shared something that has stuck with me...{now imagine her super awesome British accent}...

I don't tend to surround myself with negative people -- they just bring me down.

People may hate it here. They may never make it feel like home. But a bad attitude really makes it 10 times worse than what it could be... or should be. We only have a couple year here, so I've heeded her advice, and instead we try to find humor in the ridiculousness of this culture.

Go ahead, laugh with me....

Advice, please!

Usually, I feel pretty secure in my parenting. I can discipline. I can love. I can teach. And, together, Jarin and I balance each other fairly well. I like to think that we have this role under control.

But I'm at a wits-end with this kid. How do you refrain a child from putting their hands in their pants?

No joke. It used to be funny and cute, but anymore, she doesn't just have the tips of her fingers in the diaper.... it is like waaaaay down there!