Surviving

Here's a few pictures from one day last week.  Adam was in Beijing, and the name of the game was survival . Since Willow is getting around mostly on foot now, she's become a lot more destructive. Lots of messes everywhere. 

She found a crayola marker and drew all over her face, the back of her head and her arms....

One of her favorite cabinets to attack

She's got the baby-squat mastered

Huge mess eating chicken alfredo. This is the day that I learned Willow doesn't enjoy being messy. She rubbed the sauce all over her face, hands, arms, and hair---and then she cried. As soon as she was cleaned-up, she was happy again and ready to eat a second helping. 

Brunch date with the lovely Danna. If you are reading this, do not feel like a creeper, girl! You are such a sweet young lady, and I love how you play with Willow. Thanks for babysitting, and being such a fun person to work with in drama! I will definitely miss you, but am happy for you as you being the next chapter in life.  

It was a hot day! So we walked down to the river, in hopes of a breeze. 

It almost looks lush. 

We had to leave this location eventually, because Willow was obsessed with  another family's stroller. It was loaded down with stools, toys, and all sorts of snacks and drinks. She wanted everything in that stroller--after try to distract her from emptying their stroller of its contents on several occasions, we just said zai jian and left the swings. 

Willow's favorite person = Emily! She adores this girl! 

Bubble Butt 

Willow is persistent in trying to get Emily to hold her. Unfortunately , I think Willow weighs more than half of Emily's weight. So that probably wouldn't work out. 

I can't believe that I went two weeks without Adam. He came home for a weekend visit, and just returned to Beijing today to finish the last week of his course. I'm very thankful that he got to visit us this weekend; I was worried that Willow might have forgotten about him. We looked at pictures and videos of Adam every day, since communicating on skype wasn't always possible. The two weeks went by relatively fast. I must admit, the last few days before Adam visited were tiring. I was getting little sleep, and my patience was running thin! I'm so thankful to be married to a man like Adam who is such a natural at being a loving and supportive father. Whew!

~julie

Park, Gazebo & a Picnic to Share

Yesterday and today, we had the chance to play with some little friends while their parents worked on moving apartments. It was actually a lot more fun than it was work. They kept one another entertained (almost 4, almost 2, and almost 1 year old kiddos) for just about the entire time. Yesterday, we spent a few hours outside, which felt marvelous after being cooped indoors for so long. 

On a related subject: Guess what's happening outside right now? Yes. More rain and thunder. 

The time we spent outside seemed to fly by--we played at the park, took a walk, played at a gazebo, and ate our lunch 'picnic' style.  It was as good a picnic as could be expected when there is an 11 month old who thinks that it's great fun to crawl around the blanket and try to eat/drink everyone's lunch. Ah. Give me a chair to strap her in! 

Here are a few pictures from our grand excursion outdoors [the toddler version of a grand excursion]. Once again...didn't edit any of the pictures...but they will have to do! 

Sometimes, I catch glimpses of what Willow will look like when she grows up. 

The other children were perfect! They were patient, obedient, and exhibited self control. Very polite young ones! My baby on the other hand was definitely naughty. The cat in the above picture was an object of jealousy since EVERYONE wanted to play with the cat all the time. Willow does not know anything about sharing yet. The only thing that was exhausting about having three kids under 4 years old was having to referee my daughter constantly. Her sin nature was definitely rearing its nasty head. 


Lots of tantrums and fits. She had to be playing with everything the others were, and was Little Miss Grabby/Gimme. It was mentally exhausting. The only thing that I can think of to help her in this situation is having play dates more often so that she can learn how to co-exist with other humans her age....Or--I guess--by having more kids of our own. But I'm not ready for the latter yet--being a referee 24/7 is not my dream job. 

Spending these hours with the three little ones brought me back to my baby sitting days. I know that I can manage several young kids simultaneously and survive. It was good to be reminded of that. However, it was a bit strange. I'm used to getting to soak in every moment with Willow so that I can collect memories of her and stories to tell her dad when he gets home. With three kids, it was hard to divide my time equally, when they all had something to communicate to me or needed attention. It wasn't that watching three kids for several hours is particularly exhausting; but I still found myself tired because I kept imagining what life would be like with three kids. I don't know how moms do this! 

Willow is learning how to walk a bit faster now. She is trying so hard! 

This is my favorite!

Playing with the food that someone had picked and collected. We put it all back afterwards--it was just too hard to keep Willow away from it. And once she started playing with them, it was a free-for-all. 

She was so excited about the leaves! "Look mom!" 

Don't know what happened to my camera at this moment--but kind of cool. Not a great photo, but still interesting. 

That would be my chubby daughter who found the bag of pretzels like a pro and whipped it open. Before I could finish taking this picture she had crammed some in her mouth. How does she know these things? She hasn't had a pretzel in months! 

We ate sandwiches, yogurt, pretzels and bananas for lunch. I wouldn't recommend going on picnic, solo, with three little ones--one of whom cannot be contained. It is just hectic. All in all, we had a lot of fun with our little friends, and would love to have them over more often. If anything, maybe Willow will learn how to act with a little more compassion and understanding towards others. 

Mango Smoothie

Waiting for our large mango smoothie. Forgot to take a picture of the smoothie, but it was very yummy. Willow loves mangoes and so do I! This is a hole-in-the-wall drink place that is walking distance away from our apartment complex. It is amazingly small, and a bit sketchy as far as architecture goes, but the drinks are awesome. What a happy summer time treat. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

In honor of the rain, I've been singing and doing the motions for "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" for Willow. She enjoys, "Down came the rain and washed the spider out!". Each time we get to that line, she laughs for some reason. I feel like it has been raining a lot lately; just about every day in my opinion! Maybe my memory is failing me, but I think we've had a thunderstorm on a daily basis. 

We've been cooped inside a lot which is unfortunate because Willow is finally able to walk and enjoy the playground. She longs to go outside, and tries to let me know this by pointing out the window, getting in her stroller, or finding her shoes. She loves it! 

I do like listening to all the rain at night, and we've had some awesome thunder storms throughout the week. It also helps Willow sleep in a little later, since it's so grey outside. Usually, the sun is up before 4 o'clock in the morning! 

Yesterday, we went out in between rain storms. I walked to the store after we played at the park for a few minutes. Unfortunately, the little sun that had showed up disappeared, and we had to walk home in another rain shower. Willow, in usual form, refused to sit under her rain protection, and leaned way out of her stroller so that she could feel the rain. I just ignored the thought that it was probably acid rain. 

Here are some pictures from our short time outside--we were both desperate for a change of scenery! These are totally unedited--but I think they are cute. 

It was a bit cold, so Willow needed her trench coat. The bow she's wearing was a gift from a student.
It looks much cuter in person. It looks strange in these pictures. 

This picture is one of my favorites because you can see her hair reacting to the static. 

Lots of construction going on. You can see these buildings going up from our living room window. They were not there at all last year! There are MANY being built all at once. Each building has its own crane. Probably close to thirty high rises being built simultaneously. Right next to another 20-or-so high rises that were just completed. 

You can see the completed high rises on the left, and the under-construction buildings on the right. 

Willow, waiting to cross the busy street with her new sippy cup. 

Lots of juxtaposition. Transplanted trees, expensive apartments under construction, laborers shoveling sand (one guy is just reclining in the work truck), and luxury cars. There are so many luxury cars in this area--these folks are wealthy.

Rich peeps

And in the middle of it all, there are wild flowers growing in between bricks. 

~julie