The Smell of Fireworks in the Morning

Lunar New Year.


It is a wonderful holiday in Asia--although you might not even mark it's passing in the USA.




It's pure magic. In a city of uncounted millions--the streets are all but deserted. Everyone is at home, celebrating with their families. Watching the National Variety show on CCTV, shooting off fireworks and noisy fire crackers. They feast on traditional dishes that are symbolic for everything they hope for in the coming year. They burn symbolic money and other disposable goods in the streets for their deceased relatives. They eat jiaozi (aka, potstickers or dumplings) at midnight. It seems like they stay up all night, blasting off fireworks until you can't see through the gunpowder haze that settles over the city. It sounds, smells, and even looks how I imagine a city under attack might be like.


For some Chinese people, it is the only time of the year that they get to see their spouse and kids. Read this about migrant workers.

2011: Pregnant with Willow
16 Weeks

Every Chinese New Year that we've spent in Shenyang, we've gone to a hotel. Saturday night, China ushered in the year of the snake (yes, our second child will be a snake...) and we went off to the Holiday Inn with a group of friends. Here's a post from our Holiday Inn trip in 2011 when I was pregnant with Willow: War Zone. I especially like the pictures of people shooting fireworks from their high-rise apartment windows.

Chun Jie 2013: Pregnant again--wearing the same maternity shirt at the same hotel.
Because I'm weird like that. 15 Weeks

Well. I'm pregnant again, and I  can't believe it's 2013! How have two years gone by so quickly? It truly leaves me speechless--to think that Willow will complete her second year in five months...it's just craziness!

Here are some pictures from Chun Jie 2013. There aren't any pictures of fireworks yet, but I'm sure there will be eventually. Adam is going to buy some boxes to set off this week. 

There was a little wardrobe in this hotel room. The kids pretended to go to Narnia or Terebithia through it. I think Willow hoped that the Oreos would multiply if she put them in the magical cupboard.

All the girls, minus Kiera and Kaeya who were on their  way over. 

One sad part about Willow's first Chun Jie was that she started to run a high fever some time during the evening. After we checked into the hotel, we walked over to Starbucks to meet some friends. While there, she seemed fine. But by the time we returned to our hotel room, she was very fussy and lethargic. We went out to dinner at Pizza Hut---where she refused to eat and wanted to be cuddled the entire time. During the evening, she seemed to play, but started to look worse. She burned with fever all night. I don't think she fell asleep until 3am--which means that we all had a late night. She was so hot in our stuffy hotel room, she ended up sleeping in just her diaper. She slept until 10:30, and woke up 'happy' enough, but still didn't seem quite herself. By the time we were returned home around 2pm, she took a super long nap. That night, her fever spiked yet again and we were trying our best to keep her comfortable. It's the 4th day of her fever now, but she is feeling much better. She is playing and laughing, and actually eating. We decided that if she refused to eat and drink for yet another day, we would take her into the hospital for an IV. We are turning so Chinese.

Willow, when she woke up the next day.

Adam's hamburger: egg, beef, onions, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. No mayonnaise  ketchup, or mustard. This would be considered an awesome find in Shenyang.

Okay, that's all for now--but there are more pictures coming from our Chun Jie break.

A Smoggy Day in Shenyang Town

Do you know that song, "A Foggy Day in London Town" with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald? Those two are gold together. 

You've probably heard in the News that Beijing (or China in general) are experiencing a lot of pollution. I know that it is terrible in Beijing right now, as well as in cities with lots of factories and climates that don't allow for the wind to take the pollution away. In Shenyang, it's not as bad as other cities, but it's still not good. This is the first year we've been here where the pollution has been so severe for so many consecutive days. 

Usually, Shenyang has an epic amount of blue sky days. Compared to the time I spent in Chengdu, Shenyang's skies are much clearer. This winter, however, we celebrate if we see the sun or a patch of clear-ish sky. I think pollution counts should be under 50 to be considered normal and safe. We have many days that are in the range of 300-800! Those are the days when visibility is poor, the sky and sun have disappeared, and it's advised that you not do anything active outdoors. What are we breathing? I don't know! 

In the past, I remember reading weather reports that forecast "Smoke" for the day or week. I'm not sure if "Smoke" is a legitimate weather word. Simply put, it's a euphemism for "Pollution". Or perhaps dust storms that trickle down from Mongolia. I don't know! 

I stole these pictures (with permission!) from a teacher friend here. The first is of our famous Shenyang bridge that is down by our river park on a clear day. The second picture is of that same bridge. Except you can't see it through all the smog. 

Two Thirds

One-third completed...just about anyway. We're coming to the close of the first trimester, and I'm so glad that part of this pregnancy is over! I'm still exhausted, but I no longer am feeling the constant nausea and queasiness that once plagued me. No longer gagging at the slightest whiff of something, throwing up, or experiencing food aversion. So, we're headed in the right direction! Nap time is my favorite time of the day and I am so thankful that Willow is still taking an hour long nap in the afternoon.
 

Just like when I was pregnant with Willow, I receive weekly email updates from Baby Center. I'm always amazed at the development that is going on without any direct control on my part. I mean, I eat food, get rest, and take vitamins--but there's so much going on in this baby's life already! Fingers, eyelashes, billions of heart beats. Honestly, God is amazing in how He designed life. But, sometimes I freak myself out. There is another human being inside of me! How surreal is that. As you can see, there is a little baby bump. It's starting to get difficult to sleep on my stomach... :(

And how is Willow doing with all of this? She has no idea and would not be able to grasp the concept. But she is a budding perfectionist at the moment, and we're dealing with all sorts of lovely new traits that go along with a strong type-A personalty. If you have any advice for demanding, guilt-ridden, perfection loving 18-month-olds......PLEASE send them my way.

Tenting

Adam likes to make tents. 

Willow likes to play in tents. 

No one likes to put the tent away. 

Costuming

So, anyway. Here I am, at 10 weeks pregnant, shopping for fabric. I had brought the true Brawny Man with me to lug all the fabric. Actually, it's because of Adam that these fabric trips even happened. I needed to have all the fabric by a certain date. Two weeks before that time, I still had nothing--so Adam found a babysitter and pushed my lazy butt out the door. I just say..."I'm pregnant! I don't want to go to the market". But that's what happened, because that's what needed to happen, and it wouldn't have happened if Adam hadn't made it happen. Haha.

How do you take a sick, hormonal woman fabric shopping? Well, usually, you don't. Or at least, you shouldn't. What happens is that she isn't on top of her game and forgets to have her costume idea documents printed during the week. So, you have to bring the iPad, which makes her feel self-conscious because then the market vendors think you're loaded and wont give you the best price.

The other problem is that she can't make decisions. Put her in a building with millions of meters of fabric and she will become clueless. Mr. Brawny Man, do you know how to make these decisions?

Problem Continued: said pregnant lady doesn't know how to sew herself. She just has experience telling other people to sew (such as her mother). What is her understanding of fabric? Hmm.....

So, there's all these looks to achieve which require many different kinds of materials--and this results in a million decisions. This equals pregnant lady's worst nightmare. She would much rather be lying in bed with her book, not haggling in a foreign language about things she has no idea about.

Can you see me? 

Apparently, I'm that pregnant-hormonal-lady because I'm sounding pretty melodramatic right now. Actually, I had a lot of 'fun' at the market. I especially enjoyed spending money that will get reimbursed. We've come a long way since Secret Garden. I remember going to Nan Er with Christa my first year (when it was in a different building) and looking for all the cheapest fabrics. This means buying material that has been heaped in piles on the dirty floor. It was ripped, and stained, and less than appealing. But it was fabric, and we needed costumes. I think I spent only a few hundred kuai on fabric for several dozen costumes. Christa showed me how to do things the cheap way, and I'm so thankful for that! Because that first year we had absolutely no budget. The drama program was a spur of moment thought and sprang up mid-year.

This year, we have a budget. Plus, a huge bank of previously used costumes from 3 other plays. Plus, profits from last year's show. So...we can afford nice fabrics. We spent 4X as much money this year, and there is not an iota of stress matched to that fact. The first year, I used all my own money and kept my fingers crossed that we would sell enough tickets to reimburse my account. Well, we almost sold enough tickets. Was it worth it? In my mind....yes!

And even thought I was being a bit melodramatic earlier--I love costuming. It's so much fun to research for period shows and put together costumes that will look good on stage are feasible with our budget and available sewing talent.

On the other hand. I'm so glad the bulk of my costuming responsibilities are over. We still have fittings (which  I hope will be a success! There's always some nail biters in the mix), and then ironing, and such.

This guy is my new best friend. He was so helpful and gave me some awesome deals. I think I bought 50% of our fabric from him. He got really into helping me select colors and textiles. He was so nice--like a friendly market grandfather.

January Willow Pictures

I was recently noticing that I've hardly blogged at all in the last several weeks. I've also taken only a handful of pictures. I sometimes think of something to post and then motivation fizzles out before the idea has even finished it's course across my brain. This is pregnancy.

Last week, I tried to remedy this by uploading pictures onto Adam's computer and then uploading them onto my blog. I've had 4 posts sitting around all week waiting to be finished. But I haven't. Here's why:

1. Pregnant
2. Willow
3. My VPN stopped working and all I can do is skype and check news sites which report the same stuff all day anyway.....While I'm on this, not only is my VPN not working (the little creation that allows me to check sites such as blogger and facebook), but my SD card reader is also out of order. As is my email. I feel so handicapped on my computer now! No facebook book. No blog. No email. No pictures to edit. Nothing.
4. Reading. I continue to read when I have free time. Reading is easier than dealing with my reality. I like to escape to fictional worlds and ignore the dishes, the laundry, the blogging, the showering...I hope this is just a phase I'm in.

The sad thing is...these are pretty much ALL the pictures we've taken in January so far.

Yesterday I took a few more of Willow--they were a little more 'artsy' (I can't really claim artsy...it's just that they weren't candid snap shots). And maybe I'll post those eventually. When I was taking those pictures yesterday, though, I thought---"Whoa, I haven't done this in.....FOREVER!"

 

I recently showed Willow how to clean the lint out from between her toes. I showed this to her only ONE time. But still, weeks later, she is obsessed with the practice of it. Several times a day, she's whipping off her slippers and socks so that she can meticulously clean in between each and every toe. I need to take a video of this. She usually exclaims, "No, no, no, no, no!" If she finds any lint.

Willow de-linting her toes

When people ask who Willow's friends are...I have to stop and laugh because if Willow were able to answer the question herself she would say that Emily was her kindred spirit. But Emily is like...5 years older. She is such a sweet girl to play with Willow on a weekly basis, though. We will miss her when she moves back to Texas!

Maybe these two will be best friends someday. This is Willow's little friend, Kaeya--who is about a year younger. She is starting to become more interactive and mobile, which Willow likes.

This is evidence that Willow is brawny. She has figured out how to flip the cushions up using her own strength. It's quite a bit of resistance training for her. She likes to sit on the couch ledge, since it's more her size.

Adam took these pictures of Willow eating kimbop while I was at drama rehearsal.

He was proud of her for eating it on its own.

Here Willow is eating a cracker. Probably after she stole it from the kitchen.

And here is Willow's first hair cut on Christmas Day (not quite January, but whatever). Her hair was so damaged from the dry air that it was actually DISGUSTING. Couldn't brush it, could use enough products on it, could get it to become un-frizzy. So we chopped it off.

Sorry Willow. Usually bad hair days (or months, in her case) don't end in a hair cut.

Appetite Returns

This is a big deal! I literally have not wanted to eat in 6 weeks. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I have returned to the kitchen without gagging.

I even tried out 4 new pinterest recipes this week. But my favorite new recipe was something we ate tonight. It's called Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken (click on the title to link to the recipe). It was so easy to make, and took nearly no time at all. I'm also a huge fan of chicken + honey mustard, and this dip recipe is delicious!

Try it out and see if you agree. It could just be me....or it could be your next favorite chicken recipe.

Baby #2

So, what are our plans with our second baby on the way? In a nutshell, here is what our near future looks like:

1. Sign another 2 year contract with our current company
2. Adam finish his graduate studies with 3 week in Beijing over the Summer and a semester in the Fall
3. Julie and Willow will travel to America without Adam (while he studies in Beijing)
4. Adam will fly to the US as soon as his Summer course has concluded
5. Celebrate Willow's 2nd birthday in America
6. Deliver the baby in America
7. Apply for baby's birth certificate, social security card, passport, and visa. I think I learned from all my mistakes last time.
8. Adam will take his paternity leave at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year. We plan to return to China as a family of 4...together this time!
9. Julie will perhaps direct another production if a consistent babysitter can be found. A musical is on the horizon!
10. Adam will graduate with his Master's in Curriculum-something-or-the-other

My first prenatal check-up went very well, except for the fact that it took forever and that they had to draw blood from the top of my hand (near my knuckles) because they couldn't find a vein anywhere else.

Lately we've been thinking about saving money and spending money. Saving money for the future, but spending it on a vacation to South Korea, and a new bedroom for Willow.

In the meantime, I ate food yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks because I was HUNGRY, and didn't feel queasy or extremely uncomfortable afterwards. I hope that the worst is over!