The Nursery Process

It continues.

A few days ago, we sold our brown couch to some friends. It was a little unexpected, sort of impromptu, but timely nonetheless. Willow's room was starting to feel so crowded, and we needed some more room for her toys and for her to play.

When her couch left the room (which was a miracle that it was able to get through the door!), we discovered mold on the wall. We looked up how to remove mold from cement walls and then sent Adam to work. We emptied Willow's room of all it's fabrics and furniture. We felt a little OCD! He protected his face and hands, dampened the wall, washed it with soup and water to scrub off the spores, disinfected it with bleach and water, and then rinsed it thoroughly. He aired out the room and dried the wall carefully. We disposed of the materials he used to clean the wall into garbage bags and then dumped it out the window. haha. We were careful.

Mold is a frequent enemy here, since we live in concrete buildings, which can be very cool and damp throughout the year.

All better!

Willow is a CLIMBER! She can now climb onto our couch without assistance. This is a little frightening, since she isn't even nine months yet! Here she is climbing onto the arm of her new mini-wicker chair. She is such a monkey! It's a good thing Adam was nearby to catch her.

A few new touches--a picture with Willow's birth stats, a toy organizer, and an arm chair. We finally finished putting her room together today, and I'm glad to have a place to sit in her room again. The chair looks much bigger in her room than it did in the store, but other than that, I'm happy with how it turned out.

She is getting so tall! From this perspective, she doesn't seem like a roley-poley baby.






Willow approves of her new set up, I think.

~julie

April Frost

It's spring break this week. I went to a nearby market to pick up some fabric, and found some fun dishes instead. There was a little stall selling lots of cute ceramics for very cheap prices. I couldn't resist it! I bought seven mugs, two little bowls for Willow, two pitchers, two casserole dishes, two serving bowls, and a creamer for under $20. That is a deal by China and US standards! It's hard to find quality dishes, that are cute, my style, and affordable here. So I jumped at the chance to pick up some cute dishes--they are my downfall.

We keep hearing reports of warm weather in the Chicago area. For awhile, it was record breaking temperatures--in the 80's--and so forth. We've still been experiencing freezing temperatures. It snowed a few times in March, and earlier this week we were in the mountains where it snowed again. The heat turned off on Monday, so now our government controlled radiators are no longer warm. It is a bit chilly in our apartment. Thinking about extremes (extremely hot, or extremely cold)--I rather be cold than hot. Soon, it will be hot in our city, and I'm not really looking forward to the humidity.

Willow's attire last Sunday.

I must admit, going to fellowship is a little tricky these days. It seems that not matter which stage we're at with Willow, she always has a nap that is during fellowship. It is a pretty big chunk of time to be gone from home, and now that she is no longer a newborn, it is difficult for her to nap in public. Usually what ends up happening is she misses her morning nap and ends up extremely crabby exhausted. Sometimes she falls asleep while we are out eating lunch, or in the taxi on the way home. This is also inconvenient because then she thinks that this is her 'nap' for the day--even if she only slept for ten minutes. If we can manage to keep her awake, it means that she is up from approximately 7am-2pm without a nap. That's a long time for Willow. Sundays are just tricky. I've tried getting her up extra early (before 6am) so that she will take a nap before we leave at 9:30, but this requires me getting up at that early time. Ugh.

We've been attending a few different fellowships since February. Now we are going to a fellowship that meets in a restaurant/bar. Last Sunday, we used shot glasses to drink our grape juice (in remembrance of Him). We have such varied experiences here!

Adam saw Willow entertaining herself by 'reading' some books the other day, and snapped some pictures. She looks a little unsettled, but I promise she was enjoying herself. She loves to empty her book basket, and concentrates on opening her board books. She is a focused baby and enjoys these sorts of tasks.



Willow's hair is starting to grow, and so is mine! I lost a ton of hair after Willow was born, and I thought it would never grow back. But I've started to notice lots of baby hairs on my head, spiking up in every which way. It's a little annoying right now, but I'm happy that I'm no longer headed in the balding direction--I had at least three nightmares about balding.

~julie

Guanmenshan

We spent a few days away from the city this week. We've been enjoying spring break--it's nice to have Adam home more often. Willow and I both enjoy the extra company, the help, and the fun that we have when he's around. We were invited to go to Guanmenshan with a group of friends this year. We drove about two hours out of the city and stayed in a lodge of sorts in the mountains. Willow behaved pretty well during the van ride there, which was a blessing since it was during her nap time. We arrived in the midst of snow flurries, huge flakes were falling, and it felt like we were going back in time. It was more like a Christmas get-away, than a spring break reprieve.

We had a wonderful time with friends. Playing games, hiking on the snow covered paths, and sitting for hours in front of the fireplace. It was a great memory to add to our China experience and we were so thankful to be included! We were the only people staying at the place where we went, so we had the whole building to ourselves, essentially. It was nice to get out of the crowded city and smog for a little while.

It was a chilly stay at the lodge. There were a few thermometers around the hotel, and it never got over 40 degrees Fahrenheit! Partly, this is because it is still cold outside, but it was also because the heat was turned off on the first of April. Our room had a Chinese style shower (which means there's a drain in the floor and a curtain, but there's nothing really keeping the water from spraying everywhere else in the bathroom if you aren't careful). It was sort of a gross experience to shower (the curtain was moldy, and the floor was grimy), but at least the water was hot! We had a fairly comfortable bed, with an electric blanket. We were really thankful for the electric blanket to keep us warm! They eventually turned some heat on for us too, and with the fireplace downstairs we were able to stay warm most of the time. Willow slept with us, which was a little difficult. She wasn't very comfortable (and neither were we). We're not used to sleeping together, and she woke up six or seven times each night. Poor baby! It was hard to say if she was hungry, or scared, or uncomfortable, or too hot or too cold...Nap times were also trying. I didn't realize how tired Willow was until after we returned home. She slept twelve hours straight through the night, and took two naps that were over two hours each! I'm so glad that she got to recover some sleep!

Willow and I only went out for a 'hike' on one occasion. It's not very easy to walk on slippery trails with an almost thirty pound baby. I was also concerned that she would get too cold (I guess I'm turning Chinese). On the one time that she went out, we were on our way to see a frozen waterfall, which you can see in the picture below. Adam slipped on some ice, and he and Willow went down fast. She got some snow down her onsie and was scared so we went back to the lodge to get some dry clothes on her. It was a littler scary to watch Adam fall so quickly--there was nothing I could do to help him. At least he was able to protect Willow from getting hurt.

You can see the frozen waterfall in the distance. This was right before Adam slipped. The others continued on lots of hikes--I look forward to when Willow can walk around on her own and enjoy more of nature on her own.

This is not a picture of Adam falling. There was some uneasy terrain to negotiate while carrying a baby. I'm sure Adam would not even think twice about it if he was on his own, but with Willow it's a different story. I was just glad to have him hold Willow during the tricky parts--I would have been scared of slipping/falling...ouch!

The main point of this picture (below) is to show you the side of the mountain that Adam hiked up and down the day before. It was pretty steep, and his jeans got very wet/muddy from his little side-adventure.

We had to cross a few bridges--they moved when you walked across them. Scary!

Willow was definitely tired--but Adam was enjoying her cuddles.

The lodge where we stayed, at the foot of this mountain/hill thing.



The place where we stayed was decorated with 'glamour' shots that were taken around the area, as well as stuffed creatures (some, I wasn't sure what they were), and other Chinese inspired trinkets. It sort of reminded me of how my grandparents decorate their home--very eclectic and sort of kitsch.
This picture was in our room. Sort of awkward. I was trying to think of a funny caption, but my mind is currently drawing a blank.

Women don't shave here.

Pool in the basement.

Willow 'reading' her book. It truly was a very fun trip, but I did feel a little bad for Willow. There wasn't a lot for her to do, and the place was far from baby proof. It was a little on the dirty side, and there were tons of breakables scattered about--so it wasn't the ideal place for a crawling baby. But, she still had a ton of fun playing with the little girl who was in our group of friends. Willow loved to play with her! And the little girl was so sweet toward Willow--she showed a lot of patience.

A little scared in the basement. I think the pool balls hitting each other startled her.

Here is the sweet little girl who played with Willow. She moved to China this year and goes to the school where Adam teaches. Her mom is the kindergarten teacher, and I enjoyed getting to spend some time with her.


So, I stink at pool.

Lauren, dressing Willow up with Pretty, Pretty Princess accessories.


The dining room was very cold, but a nice place to eat. There were large windows along the exterior walls so that you had an excellent view of the mountains. We brought our own breakfast for one morning, but all of our other meals were prepared by the Chinese staff. We enjoyed lots of yummy food while we were there. It was especially nice not to have to cook or clean up after meals for a few days.

The view. I couldn't really get the whole 'picture' with the lens I was using.

Chinese style breakfast, with western coffee and bacon.

The sugar bing! Yummy! Basically doughy bread with sugar in the middle. Willow was eating this egg yolk until she got upset and threw up. Oi.

It snowed on the day we arrived as well as the morning we left. A nice way to bookend our mountain trip.



More pictures of our trip to come. Our internet has been incredibly slow this week. It took me all day to upload these pictures. Hopefully, it will be more efficient tomorrow. I'm just thankful for a few more days of spring break--it's so nice to have extra time with Adam. There are only about two months of school left. I can hardly believe how fast this school year has gone by!

~julie