Creative Twist

Maybe it was the fact that we've been on spring break, but Adam and I had the need to make something yesterday. I started by decorating (a little late) for Easter, and Adam took some cardboard that had boxed the furniture we just bought and made a little castle for Willow. Then, I hard boiled some eggs to decorate. It's a little tricky coloring brown eggs, but we made it work. Of course, I only had two colors to choose from....oh well!

I would like to point out that I spent $0 on my decorations. I used scraps from around the house, including Little Women ticket info to make the paper chains (I asked for 16 copies, but they accidentally made 80).

Can you tell who decorated which eggs? No, Willow didn't help this year.



We ended the night with lots of cooking (for Sunday's potluck, and also lasagna for dinner), and Willow's bath time. Adam went grocery shopping, and reported that he biked back with his max bearing weight--whatever that means! haha. It was a productive and very long day.

I'm feeling a little stressed about Monday. Which is weird, especially since I don't have to teach anymore. However, it's a harsh slap back into reality. Staying at home with Willow all day, going to various groups, studying for my book study and for Chinese...and then the MILLION + 1 things I have to do for Little Women all of the sudden. It's enough to give me a heart attack.

Here's to future productivity. As in, very NEAR future.

~julie

Easter

Easter morning, Willow woke up at 5:40 am. Lovely.
Since Adam woke up with her on Saturday, I let him sleep in a little longer and played with our early-bird in her room. After Adam woke up, we brought Willow out to the living room, where she saw her Easter basket for the first time.

she doesn't really know what to think about the sunglasses.


Later that morning (you can say 'later', if you wake up before 6am on a Sunday morning), we went to fellowship and saw some of our friends. Willow played with her friends until the service started.

We meet in a bar/restaurant that's in a hotel.

Willow loves this girl!


Maddy loves to give kisses.

Tre was handsome on Easter morning.

Willow's dress is still a bit too big, but I couldn't resist it any longer. Thanks for the cute frock, Katie!


Tre and his foster-momma

Emma-Mae was decked out in frills--her first Easter too!





There was a potluck afterwards, so we stayed to eat. I brought a double batch of my mother-in-law's recipe for a cool bean salad. I wanted to bring something that didn't need to be heated up. Of course, it's gone now! Thanks for sharing the yummy recipe!

When we returned to our apartment, Willow was exhausted. She snuggled down for a nap...that was very short lived thanks to our lovely neighbors who decided to saw and use drills during Willow's nap time (and only during her nap time). It's like they have us under surveillance for when we will be most inconvenienced by their home renovation.

Happy Easter from the Johnsons!

~julie

They All Rolled Over

And one fell out!

Last night was one of those 'token' rough nights.

Most nights, Willow wakes up to nurse during the wee hours. I don't mind too much if she only wakes up once. I nurse her in our bed, since I'm too tired to sit up in a chair. Last night, Willow woke up twice. After she finished nursing the second time, I had a little dilemma. I couldn't find the energy or motivation to put her back in her own bed, but I felt guilty waking Adam up to do the task. In the midst of trying to decide what I should do, I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I heard a loud thud on our floor. I had a moment of groggy panic as I tried to figure out what happened. Willow wasn't sleeping next to me, and quickly realized she was on the wood floor screaming loudly. I bolted up, but Adam was faster.

Adam jumped out of bed and picked her up. She was all right and stopped crying shortly, but what a scare! I think she must have woken up, not known where she was, so started to crawl around. She must have crawled right off the edge of the bed. It must have been a very frightening and painful experience. She has never fallen off the bed before, and so I felt awful! I was mad at myself. Adam was mad at me. I was mad at Adam. Willow was mad at the world (i.e. both of us). It was a dramatic few moments. Even after she had settled down and Adam put her in her crib, I kept waking up and thinking she had fallen on the floor again. Those sleep-deprived-panic-moments.

This morning, Willow is acting perfectly normal and doesn't even have a bump or a bruise.

What a stressful night! I know I will be more vigilant about getting Willow back into the safety of her crib from now on. Another motherhood episode to add to the list of other reality checks.

In other news, the pounding upstairs, being done by our neighbors, continues today. The vigorous hammering has been consistent all day yesterday and today--it sounds like about four different hammers are being put to work and what sounds like a new floor. Seriously though, these upstairs renovations are driving me insane. They've been going on since August. First, they were demolishing everything, including furniture. They were throwing everything that was torn apart and destroyed out the window, which was very noisy as well. Ever since then, they've been rebuilding upstairs. We also had a few weeks of the buildings roof being redone--which was surprisingly loud for being six floors above us. Now, they're working on the floor in the apartment above us, and this has been the worst yet! It's so loud, and it seems to be never ending. These guys, whoever they are, don't take a break to do anything.

I hope the finish soon and the hammering will stop. I'm starting to miss the neighbors that used to live there. Their baby crying, their piano playing, their food getting chopped up for stir fry---all of that was nothing compared to this.

Grrrr....

~julie

Helper Baby

Willow likes to 'help'. When I'm cooking or baking, she wants to play with pots and pans and measuring spoons. It's a good thing she hasn't figured out how to open the kitchen cupboards yet! She is very content when she feels like she is contributing somehow; this means non-toy activities. Yesterday, Adam was assembling her new IKEA furniture, and Willow was happy to lend a hand wherever she could. I had tried convincing Adam to do this during her nap time, but he ended up putting together her toy box and chair after she woke up--which meant I spent the whole time playing 'keep away'. Sometimes I let her 'help'.






She was a little too involved, so spent some time observing from her crib. She 'helped' by brushing her teeth.




Willow 'helped' by reading about the Soviets (her dad's current favorite book).



~julie

Guanmenshan Continued

If you missed my first post about a mini vacation to the mountains during spring break, you can still read about it/look at the pictures!

To recap, it was a very 'cool' trip--and we spent lots of time staying warm. Willow wore her coat nearly 24/7. We had heated electric blankets while we slept, and sat in front of this toasty fire most of the time in the evenings. The heat was turned off on April 1 in China. At least Shenyang has heat! Most of the country doesn't have radiators at all, let alone central heat/air. It was a cool 40F in the lodge during our stay!

We had fun playing games together, like banana grams, loaded questions, monopoly deal, and pool. Most of my time was spent taking care of Willow, which I don't mind. Adam was very helpful, in between the times that he was reading "The Hunger Games". Finally, he fulfilled his promise to me that he would read it! Overall, it was such a fun trip and sweet time with friends. I was very glad that we got a chance to get away from the city, to eat yummy food, and to fellowship with others.

Willow doing her best to entertain herself. Our room was a little dingy and needed some new lamp shades, carpet, and curtains (among other things). I felt a little uneasy allowing Willow to crawl on the carpet--but I kept reminding myself that babies live in worse situations and survive. I'm such a germophobe! Adam was trying to stay warm, huddled under all the blankets. haha.

One of those rare times when Willow will acquiesce to giving Adam a kiss. She usually initiates it--if he asks for a kiss, she ignores him. :)

After her sweet kiss, she decided to yank his nose off.

To distract Willow from her vicious attack, Adam handed her his cell phone. She likes to dial numbers, and pass the phone from hand to hand as she flips it around. I like to pick up on her little mannerisms, they're so fun to watch develop!



The view from our window after it finished snowing on our first day there.

Walking to the frozen waterfall. We weren't sure if it would still be frozen, but it was.
We had to walk through lots of abandoned buildings, and random pieces of 'landscaping', materials, and machinery.






This lady (in the background) was like a troll. We had to pay her a toll to continue on the path. She had guard dogs chained up all over the place, and they looked capable of tearing us the pieces. She was friendly, though. :)

Bathrooms...they looked creepier in person.




~julie