Willow's Shenanigans: February Edition

These pictures are from February--but better late than never! I'll just give some explanations about what's happening. Above, on the left--Willow went through a phase where she would put her food in cups and eat in this fashion. It was a little annoying--but she came up with it on her own. On the right, she's pointing to the cupcake on her shirt. Whenever she wears this shirt, she expects people to try and eat/tickle the cupcake.

The pictures below: Willow set up this little center on her own. She spread out the blankets, stacked the pillows, brought out her toys, coloring books, and whatever else she wanted. It's so cute when she sets up little play centers--but then I have to clean it up later....

Pretending to sleep.

Forever getting into things she shouldn't be playing with. She found her dad's old shuffle, and a pair of headphones. I was impressed because she KNEW that they worked together.

She is a kid of the 21st century. She understands things like how to load discs on a laptop, how to plug in headphones, that USB's can be put in our DVD player and play movies (or how to load DVD's, get the remotes, and start a movie). She just KNOWS these things without being told/taught how. It's a little freaky, and annoying because we don't want her to break our technology. Did I mention she has like fifty apps on the iPad. She has a really great understanding of how iPads work and smart phones work. It's uncanny. I've heard of others babies knowing these things too. But it's still weird when she can find the correct folder, open the correct app (e.g. skype), find the contact she wants, select their picture, and choose how she wants to contact them. It's so freaky!

Oh, and then there's the make-up obsession. In January and February, she effectively destroyed all my make-up. If I turn my back for a second, she's destroying my make-up. This particular night, she took off running with eye shadow, and this is how we found her. The lighting is terrible, but if you were there, you would have seen her whole face sparkling purple hues.

Still loves her blankies, her bunnies, and her daddy.

Loves to play with Emily and her dad. They are crazy together!

In January and February, she was obsessed with these tiny oranges. I really should have taken a picture of them. They are only good in the middle of winter. But we were buy several pounds a week. She would eat ten or more for breakfast! They tiny (easy for her to eat), sweet, and so easy to peel.

More shenanigans to come!

21 Weeks

Left: at 13 weeks
Right: at 21 weeks 

So, basically. Looks like a watermelon. 

Currently, up with Willow at 11:15pm because she is scared and doesn't want to sleep.
I'm thinking....how can I do this with two kids? Two is a small number, but right now, it's feeling huge. 

I've started to feel the baby move on a more regular basis. But this baby is not as active as Willow was. Feeling all the lovely symptoms (back pain, round ligament pain, heart burn pain, tired pain, etc pain). 

ok....got to go watch Sesame Street now. 

Say What?

While I was pregnant with Willow, I wasn't able to find out for sure if we were expecting a boy a girl. It could have been for a few reasons:

• Position of the baby
• Size of baby (too small or too big) 
• Chinese Law 

It was probably a combination of all these things. Plus...there's this thing in Asian culture called "saving face". Which, I suppose is in Western cultures as well, but it's very prevalent in countries like China. If there is a chance of making a mistake/being wrong, you want to cover yourself so that you do not experience any severe consequences or a fate even worse....shame. So the old ultra-sound technician lady would never tell me if we were having a boy or girl back in 2011. The first question I asked after Willow was born was, "is the baby a boy or a girl?" 

All this back story to give you a glimpse of our inner-second-guessing-complex-with-baby-genders. 

To believe the technician or not to believe. That is the question! 

On Friday, I went for my 20 week appointment. It had been so long since my last appointment, that my doctor actually forgot I was pregnant! 

During the ultra-sound, I had a new technician. She is at least a few decades younger than the other lady (the other lady did dozens of ultra sounds for me 2011, and also when they thought I had a tumor). She took all the basic measurements and checked the baby out per-usual (China style). This means, waiting in a crowded hallway for your turn, being ushered into a dingy, concrete room. Having a nurse spread a new sheet over the table, you plop down, they start the ultra-sound. You can't see the screen (nationals aren't allowed to see), father's aren't allowed entrance.....

One funny moment was while I was just about to start, this other obviously pregnant lady broke protocol and opened the examination room door. I laughed to myself that I could understand her Chinese. 

"I really have to poop! Can I go poop now?" I think they told her she had to wait because a full bladder is required or something. 

Anyway, after the usual ultra-sound exam, I asked her if she could discover and communicate to me the baby's gender. She was completely ok with this request. Unlike the last lady who would scowl and need to be cajoled into the task. She was determined too! She even had me lie on my side and on my stomach so she could try to see the baby from different angles. 

I kept hearing her mumble, "probably a girl.....girl I think. Probably a girl". My thought process was....I can live with that. I have tons of girl stuff. Don't have to redecorate. This is good news. 

And then she and her assistants start laughing---"High possibility it's a boy".
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Change-a-roo! 

"How high is this possibility?" I wanted to know a percentage or something that was better than 50/50. 

"BIG Chance" she laughed again. 

I guess that these nurses and technicians are pretty silly when it comes to finding boy parts. I'm positive they don't check gender very often--so maybe it was a giddy moment in their work day. 

I decided to text Adam a lie. I can't lie to his face well at all. But it suddenly occurred to me that I could probably be deceptive by text. I told him, "couldn't see if baby was a boy or a girl. Healthy though!" 

Later that afternoon, while he was at a meeting, I made blue pudding. I seriously was going to make something more fun.....like cupcakes. But I ran out of time. And pudding is the fastest thing to make. After dinner, Adam grabbed the pudding from the fridge and was concerned about the color. 

"Why is the pudding blue? Did you make it blue?" He is worried about my mental state, lately. 

"Why do you think the pudding is blue?"
"Because of the flavor?"
"No. Think about it!" 

"I don't know!"
"We're having a boy...big chance of it, anyway" 

"Wait, you're lying" 

Basically, I finally tricked Adam. 

And I hope that this baby is not tricking our Chinese doctor-people who aren't used to this kind of check. Because we'll be loading up on boy stuff!

Garage Sale, Apartment Style

 Well, we did it!
Once we discovered that another baby was on the way, I knew that we had to make some more space. We are fortunate that our apartment has a closet, as well as some storage cabinets. But, we were already bursting through the seams of these nooks and crannies. If we used all these items and genuinely needed each of them--I could probably rationalize holding onto them. However, there were so many things that we hadn't ever used/hadn't used in years/or were likely not to use again. We also had so many extras that it was really selfish to hoard it. So in the interest of making some space, I thought about putting together a 'garage sale'.

Saturday was the big day. I'd been going through each cabinet, our entire closet, all the drawers and dresser--sorting through things that we could part with. We started throwing these things in our guest room (literally, just throwing them and closing the door before there was an avalanche) for several days. We had amassed a pile and I was starting to become hopeful that we would make some extra money--enough to buy a coveted double stroller.

Willow was 'helping' me go through the closet.
Our fans are very important since we don't have AC. :) 

Because the top priority was de-cluttering, I hoped to under-price most of what we wanted to get rid of. We have no thrift store options here. I wish we could just run to Goodwill and drop off what we don't need on a regular basis!

But here, we have something almost as good as thrift stores...apartment sales! These happen every spring, for sure, because ex-pats are continually moving back to their home-countries (or another city). They have to unload on most of the possessions, because traveling to the next home usually means packing your life in a few suitcases. This is actually our future as well.

I suppose our sale was unique since we aren't leaving Shenyang. We also didn't sell any big items (like furniture) because we need those things still. Just odds and ends. Books, magazines, imported foods that will expire before I can use them all (I can't believe I'll be in the US in two months!), extra baby/toddler clothes and shoes, decorations, clothes, bedding that we no longer need (trading in the queen for bunk beds), etc.I did receive an email today from a national employee at our school apologizing that we had to leave China--and asking if I had any kitchen items left to sell. Well....it's awkward to explain that no, you have no kitchen items left, and no....you aren't leaving.

So my life has been organizing and consolidating. Asking the question over and over again, "do I really need this?" It has been a form of nesting--pretty early in the game, but I'm on a time crunch! Just like with Willow, I have to have the nesting part finished before I hit the third trimester!

 At one point, we had her stroller out of the closet where it has been sitting for a few months. She loved it! I think she had forgotten about it. She wanted to eat lunch in her stroller, be pushed around the house in it, and watch tv while sitting in it. We eventually took her out on a walk.

We advertised the sale with our school and team, with our local friends (national and foreign), and with everyone else, it seemed like. I decided to make coffee and coffee cake and offer door prizes. Our colleague who lives upstairs decided to have a sale at the same time--and that really worked out well for both of us.

Thanks to our friends for offering to watch Willow during the sale. She had fun playing at their house, and it was less stressful with her off the premises. I'm sure seeing 60 people in our small home taking away our things would have been stressful to her too.

 

Adam took off with Willow around 8:30am on Saturday morning. In retrospect, I definitely I think Willow would have been traumatized by the sale. 

I stayed behind and prepared the snacks and coffee. 

We sold lots of bedding, since we're hoping to get rid of the queen size bed in the guest room and replace it with a bunk bed. I sold all the the clothes that were set out. All our used pillows were also sold...interesting!

Our first customers were Chinese people. They came 30 minutes before the sale was supposed to start. Knock, knock. "Can we come in early?" What was I supposed to say? "No stay out in the cold.".....I don't think so. They ended up buying the most out of anybody though. So for that, I guess I should be thankful.

We handed off many pieces of girl clothing. I still have three containers in the closet, just in case this boy ends up being a girl....I'm still in denial that we are expecting a boy. I feel like I shouldn't trust that yet.

Cinnamon Roll Cake is yummy. So is the copy cat Starbucks frappuccino!

I don't have a before picture....but that cake was gone by the afternoon.


Anyway---glad we did it. Glad it's over.

I Love China

I also don't.

Sometimes I love China. Like the smells, the loud yelling in a language I barely understand, the questionable architecture, the way spring takes forever to arrive. But then I hate how the markets are so crowded that getting elbowed in the eye is normal, and how when you check out at the big supermarket the one thing you came to buy doesn't have a price tag....so you can't check out and no one will help you get a new one.

I love how taxi drivers will go out of there way to stop in a busy road to pick up. I hate how they make you get out of their cab after 10 minutes of discussing where you want to go AND make you pay the fare for the time spent sitting in their taxi trying to give directions....even though you went nowhere.

I like how I finally bought a crock pot. I feel like I have stepped into another level of adulthood/stay-at-home-part-time-working-mommyhood. I hate how it took an hour to wait for a forklift to get the box off of the shelf.

With several friends preparing to leave our city in a few months, there's the overwhelming feeling that we'll leave here someday too. I think of all the things I'll miss and probably never see again. The things that no one would understand unless they had experienced them too. The things I can't even hope to replicate. I wish I could take part of China with me everywhere.

Pygmalion, Pregnancy, Preparing

Willow is taking her nap, I'm listening to some worship music and feeling the occasional movements of baby. I need a break from Pygmalion.

Thinking Pygmalion. Talking Pygmalion. Dreaming Pygmalion. Shopping Pygmalion. Problem-Solving Pygmalion. Delegating Pygmalion. Planning Pygmalion.

Willow is 20 months old, I'm nearly 20 weeks pregnant. We have 6 more weeks until Adam's mom arrives. 7 more weeks until opening night. 9 more weeks until I'm back in America.

Life is about count downs right now. How many more days until the landlord will finally take the guest bed away so that we can paint that room? How many more weeks until I can buy new furniture for that room so that Willow will be able to move in after the baby arrives? How many more weekends can I utilize to buy props? How many more weeks do I have to wait before we ask for all the sets on the stage? How many more weeks until backstage starts practicing with us? How many more weeks until I should buy a carseat for Willow to use in America?

But right now, I just want to sit around and not think about all that. I would rather drink some coffee and try to think about baby names.

I've been organizing all our nooks and crannies. I'm nowhere near finished, but I've gotten more done that I was expecting so far. We're having a sale next weekend to help de-clutter our small apartment. We need space for our baby! I hope we can find out if our baby is a girl or a boy next week.

Slowly checking tasks off of my various project lists. But they don't get shorter. They get longer!

Watching Project Runway, Season 10! Or maybe it's season 11? Pregnancy brain!

Starting to sell tickets for Pygmalion. Hanging posters. Getting reimbursed for all those inane expenses. I told Adam that Secret Garden, Treasure Island, Little Women, and Pygmalion are like my children. Secret Garden got seriously jipped. Pygmalion is in dangerous risk of becoming spoiled with it's frivolous expenditures (like real bow ties--$5 each--this is HUGE compared to what we were able to spend on Secret Garden).

We're all sick right now. Adam came down with a fever/cold last Friday and is still hanging onto his illness. He passed it onto me--but I seem to be doing better today. Even though I've been boosting Willow with lots of fruit, water, and washing her hands alot, she now has a runny nose.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to make a run out to Tai Yuan to buy gaudy, frivolous jewelry that people actually wear here. I'll probably treat myself to Starbucks because it's impossible not to.

Willow has finally started saying "mom" again! I'm so happy! It seems like she has refused to say mom since she was such a little thing. If I would ask her to say 'mom', she would say 'dad' and then laugh. This has gone on for months! I think she's finally figured out that if she calls out to 'mom' then she can get attention much faster. It feels so good to be acknowledged again!

We have community groups tonight and I'm making deviled eggs. I'm in love with deviled eggs this trimester. That and chocolate ice cream.

Sorry for the neglect, blog. Just too busy. Too busy to read, blog, or even take pictures.