Apparently it was too high.

Jet Lag Part 2

2009-10-16T04:55:00.002-06:00

My jet lag is OK, I guess.
Thursday I had a long overdue Cub Scout activity to do. I need to book campsites for the pack for Fall and Spring campouts. After several unproductive phone calls. Irritability from jet lag showed through.
I was really sleepy about noon, even though I had gotten good sleep.
I did do better on Thursday evening staying awake until bed time.
Friday morning I woke at 3:30am too late to take anything, so I stayed up. Frankly, waking at 3:30 happens occasionally anyway.

Jet lag part 1

2009-10-15T06:03:00.004-06:00

While I was on layover in Tokyo. Did I mention it was 4 hours? I surfed jet lag at the airport. I also took a shower at the airport. I highly recommend the shower. Even though I had only had one 4 hour flight, I had been up for 10 hours and it helped. It was hard to put my socks back on while still steamy.

I set my watch to Dallas time. Rats. My layover sounds worse when you consider it is midnight to 4 AM Dallas time. I stopped drinking either alcohol or caffeine and drank lots of water. When I got on the plane I took Tylenol PM, put in earplugs and put on a sleep mask. I only stayed asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke at 7AM Dallas time, I had missed a meal service, I had a cup of coffee in the back of the plane and had a protein bar I had brought. From then on I was on Dallas time. That is I was reading and watching movies in a dark plane where everyone was a sleep. It was really hard to stay awake towards the end.

When I got home we all went outside for some sunlight. The whole evening I was a state where if I wasn't doing something active I would sort of fade out. I stayed up until 9:30PM Dallas time.
I fell asleep immediately.

2AM I woke refreshed like I had taken a nap until 4PM, which I had, in a way. I took a sleeping pill and surfed for 45minutes. I went back to sleep until the alarm went off at 6:30AM and here I am. According to my Tokyo surfing, the worst should be over. We will see.

I am home!

2009-10-14T16:24:00.002-06:00

I am so happy to be home. Camille ran to me. Trevor hugged me and took my luggage. Simon giggled at me then sucked his thumb as I carried him. (so he was not so sure). Wife brought me cookies and a cold beer. I brought 'Wana Wana Pocky' for everyone.

I am sleepy, but will stay up till bed. I did get a couple hours sleep from Tokyo to Dallas. I need to go see if my souveniers made it.

In Japan for a couple of hours

2009-10-13T23:32:00.001-06:00

Gee, once again, it's an airport.
We did fly over 6 count 'em 6 golf courses on the way in. That is a lot. Well off to find some grub.

0 Days Left - I gotta go

2009-10-13T18:39:00.000-06:00

Stock Photo from Dallas. I will be on a JAL flight to Tokyo then switch to American for the long flight to Dallas. I am just glad I am not going through LA.

I started packing last night at 11:30PM. I took one last stroll through the night market a block from my hotel. For a Tuesday night, it was rocking. Still did not see anyone eating snake but the shop was open. I was going to post after I got done packing and then I realized that I packed my network cable. So, here I am at the airport using the wireless. I packed everything into the big suitcase. Please handle it gently! I asked the check in lady what the weight limit was. She said 23kg. I put it on the scale and it was 22.9kg. :-)

I only slept about 4 hours last night. It is all part of my anti-jetlag plan. Nah, just kidding, I was too excited to go home. After 22 days I am comfortable in Taiwan. Just one thing. I miss my family every day. I will be home soon.

1 Day Left - It was a long one

2009-10-12T08:53:00.001-06:00

The photo for the day is one of the ones from Sun Moon Lake. It did not fit in the original post. There is this wonderfull boardwalk that runs around the lake. I walked it for 3km before realizing that if I wanted to climb a mountain before dark, I had better get after it. My legs are still sore from that climb.

Today was a 13 hour day at work. I guess it ended well, I will know tomorrow afternoon. I got room service for the first time. I got to the hotel at 10PM. Most restraunts only go to about 9:30PM.

At lunch I ate in the free food line. The main dish was the usual noodles, with some ground meat, a pork meatball and some 1 inch thick tofu pieces. Not bad. I also got a side plate with a cold meat and veggies. The cold meat had a sauce on it and I had a small piece. A few minutes later I tossed a big piece in my mouth and chewed. Yuck. I asked my neighbor if it was liver. He enthusiastically agreed. "Yes, Liver!"

I don't know why this is but it happened in Malaysia too. I have gotten so used to the cab drive home that I sort of tune it out. So, tonight we were at a stoplight and I guess someone else broke down. Two guys walked across and in front of the taxi over to the passenger side and wanted the driver to talk to them. He waved them off. A couple of lights later my driver had to stop and wait to turn left, once traffic cleared he just sat there for 30 seconds and let the light turn red. That is not how you drive here. Overall, he was a cautious driver, the first cautious taxi driver I have had. I hope that was my one wierd taxi ride for the trip.

Tomorrow is my last day at work in Taiwan. Yee Haw.

2 Days Left - Made in USA

2009-10-11T07:48:00.002-06:00

One of my co-workers asked us to look for something made in USA and sold in Taiwan. My contribution was Aquafresh.

Today I planned to lay low. The weather was not better as it was supposed to be. However, I decided to just run in to Taipei for a couple of errands to get souveniors. 7 hours later, I got back to the room. Mass transit just takes a long time. My train out of Taipei was a really old one. It had no signage telling you what stop is coming. I had become used to getting a nice heads up. I was OK and found my stop.

I am sore from my hike yesterday. I was hoping for a massage in the hotel, but they are not available today.

I did not want to make a big production out of dinner. I went to the Jalapeno. It is a mexican themed restaurant right next to the hotel. It is really not that good. I will not be back. I did get more cheese than I have seen in weeks on my plate.

3 Days Left Part 3 - There and back again

2009-10-10T09:29:00.002-06:00

To properly get this three part post. Start at part one and read top to bottom.

5:35 "Climbed almost to top of mountainIts now raining and I still need a bus back to train" Nothing like climbing a mountain in 100% humidity. I might be overly dramatic in this picture. GPS confirmed I was real close to top of mountain. However it gets dark early here. I turned around and went back down. It was dark within 10 minutes of me getting off the mountain. Oh, and the last bus out is 7:30PM in a packed tourist town. Today is Taiwan Independence Day. Sleeping on a park bench seems a possibility.

6:24 Wow got lucky. Got down mountain at dark. Bus came within minutes of me figuring it out. They are hourly and it is a holiday so traffic has them off schedule. Hard part is over I think

I made my way back to the tourist office which was still open, thank goodness. They rounded up an English speaker who got me in the right bus line. The bus showed up minutes later even though it was off schedule. Lucky. The hour and a half bus ride with the air blowing on me, water and my second protein bar refueled me. My schedule did not leave time for lunch or dinner.

8:45 PM Now on High Speed Rail Saw 293kph on the screen
Ahh, After a long day of train rides, bus rides, walking and mountain climbing I am ready for a Taiwan beer on the high speed rail. 293kph is 180mph.

Bye bye trusty steed. Just a taxi ride away from the Kuva Chateau.

9:25PM Back at hotel. Really need a shower!

3 Days Left Part 2 - Getting Around Sun Moon Lake

2009-10-10T09:13:00.005-06:00

Still on the bus ride to Sun Moon Lake. Bamboo. I see the resemblance to Taipei 101.

3:30 PM Made it Sun Moon Lake in the misty mountains. Had a coffee (at Starbucks) now walking. They have a fantastic boardwalk down near the water. The huge line of cars is about 30 feet above and you hardly notice them.

I chose to climb Mt Maolan. This is what I wanted to do, walk among the tea plants. I had seen tea plants, but I never had my camera ready.

I wanted to see the mountains of Taiwan. Check. This is beautiful. The haze is from the 100% humidity. It is good for tea plants.

3 Days Left Part 1 - Travel to Sun Moon

2009-10-10T08:43:00.004-06:00

Today was my adventure travel day. Everyone either worked or went to Taipei. I have been twice and I needed to do something different. I was a little nervous going alone being that I know people who had a hard time returning once they got to a rural Taiwan destination because they could not communicate.

I emailed the wife as my version of tweets. Follow my travel timeline.

10:52 AM I am striking out on my own. I will take high speed rail and busses to sun moon lake if possible

I got a late start in part because my travel planning started after breakfast when I checked the weather and looked for a region that was raining less, something touristy in there, then how the heck to get there. I chose Sun Moon Lake.

New scenery... by Train going South.... Rice fields and housing.

12:40 I made it to Taichung waiting bus

1PM Made it onto correct bus to sun moon! Woohoo
The electronic board did not match the actual busses. Some helpful chap that knew English helped me figure out the actual time. Pictures from the bus to Sun Moon Lake. More rice growing with complicated terracing and water control.

It is a pretty amazing highway going into the mountains.

4 Days Left

2009-10-09T17:43:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of the HighSpeed Rail Train.
It is really really cool. I may ride it again today as my travel theme.

Yesterday was a day so bad I had to laugh at it. We had 6 hours of tool time. I got back 30 minutes late from a lunch our hosts took us on. I found the engineer with floor tiles pulled up looking for a very small part which fell through the floor. In a fab, the entire floor is a giant return air vent. That was just the first setback. We ended up getting 2 hours of work in the 6 hours.

The day was perfectly summarized when I ate the last Dove chocolate out of the bag Andrea gave me for the trip. The saying inside was "Go ahead, have another"

I was late leaving work, I am the only one at my hotel, I got bad sleep Thursday night and the ATM rejected my card and I was low on cash. Solution? Dinner in the hotel lounge. I actually got a cheeseburger. My waitress said, "Everyone gets a cheesburger". It was pleasant, I had a second floor window seat in a couch with live piano coming from downstairs. And it was easy no taxi to take and I charged it to my room.

5 Days Left

2009-10-08T18:27:00.002-06:00

6 Days Left

2009-10-07T10:25:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend we ate at a restraunt called the Modern Toilet. It is toilet themed. My hotpot came in a minature toilet. Here is my swirl ice cream in a small squatty potty. Yum.

By the way, I tried a squatty potty here for the first time. You have to have endurance in your legs. Other than that it was fine.

My boss goes home tomorrow. We had Teppanyaki, a favorite, and went to the River Bar. We are creatures of habit. I lost several pool games. We left my boss when he was winning at the table. Talked to an English guy. He teaches English for US $30k a year. Of course, that goes much further here.

Breakfast, though good, is getting boring.

Work is going very well, so no issue with coming home on time.

Gotta go it is after midnight here and I have to work in the morning.

7 Days Left

2009-10-06T08:44:00.002-06:00

Today was wire bond and Japanese barbeque.
Wire bond was an easy day. Tomorrow is wirebond encapsulation. This is our only remaining high risk item.
Japanese barbeque was a repeat. This time we had zero, zilch, nada communication. It is all you can eat, just select from the list. Our first order was totally botched. We got fish and squid and I know we did not order either. We also got maybe 5 plates of sliced beef. It was ridiculous. For our second order we used the Chinese menu and Chinese order form and marked it up ourselves. That worked better. When it came time to leave, she really did not get that we were going to go pay at the cashier. We pretty much had to ignore her and leave to pay. Usually, you can point or mime things and get the point across. Not tonight.
Tomorrow is my boss' last day here. He will leave on Thursday AM.
Friday is the project leaders last day here. He will leave on Friday AM.
I will be the last one at this hotel and I will have 5 days left.
There will still be 5 folks I know from Dallas, but they are all at the other hotel.
I will likely travel on the weekend. Not Taipei. But the daily grind will be more lonely.
All-in-all I am quite ready to go home. The work is fine, interesting and I am engaged, but I could do without the 1 hour of taxi commuting, same food for breakfast, same questionable food for lunch everyday and every night's dinner being a 2 hour affair.
The countdown has begun....

2009-10-05T09:30:00.007-06:00

For Daddy, with love.

More Taipei 101 part 2

2009-10-05T08:54:00.001-06:00

It was windy when I went there last week.

This week I went back there with my boss in red and another co-worker.
This is the giant damper which moderates the building swinging. I bet it really moved in the recent earthquake. I slept throught earthquake. :-(

Due to the nearby Typhoon, it was rainy, cloudy and windy. We could not go outside.

Just me and my rooster. (Camille is a rooster)

More Taipei 101 part 1

2009-10-05T08:50:00.002-06:00

Yup, I really went there...

Inside has an almost art deco feel.

Only 26 stories? Pathetic.

Sorry. I did not get the picture of the airliner flying below us.

Teppanyaki Upgrade

2009-10-05T06:49:00.001-06:00

As you have figured out, Taiwan is about eating. Look on the bright side, I could be blogging about mishaped chrome fiducials and expired adhesive pot life.

Anyway. Probably the single best find in Taiwan is Teppanyaki. My first meal I got chicken. My second time I got chicken with double meat. I thought I was really doing great. Then my neigbor got sliced beef, spices in a small bowl, a piece of fish, two shrimp, veggies and then more sliced beef.
I was totally "Out Whataburgered"

So, here I am back again getting the surf and turf. All this and a beer for $16

Dress-quest 2009 is over

2009-10-03T08:55:00.001-06:00

Coming to Taiwan, it was obvious that I would find these dresses. Looking around, I did not find them in the first week. I finally found them in Taipei. They were about $15 each, but with negotiation I expected to get them for under $10. I planned to buy 4 for $40. The lady then said, no discount. They seem kinda pricey at $15, so I only got these two. One for Camille. One for Greta.

We went essentially repeated but improved last Saturday's trip.

We went back to 101, but did not get lost and take 3 hours there. On the downside, it was windy and cloudy (there is Typhoon coming you know) so the outdoor observation deck was closed.

We went back to Long Shan temple. I took more and better pictures.

We also went back to the night market. I ate more different food and we went through twice as many stalls. One new feature. The folks who set up stalls in the middle of the alley apparently do not have permits. So, every once in a while a group of them would fold up their table and walk off within about 10 seconds. Later they would be out again. Bonus, I started buying souveniors.

Coming back was the biggest improvement. Instead of an hour on a standing room only packed train, we splurged, $3, and took the high speed rail. It is a short trip, but it was nearly empty, clean and fast. 180MPH! Oh, and we had a seat to rest our weary feet. The train does not stop in our hotel town, so we took a taxi the rest of the way. Again, no standing or walking. Ahh.

Longshan Temple

2009-10-02T10:45:00.002-06:00

Rather than bore you with the details of today. Got to work about 8:30AM..Left work about 11:30PM. Need to go to work again 8:30AM for a little while. Then we go back to Taipei before the Typhoon hits.
For now, look at some pics from last weekend. Longshan Temple.

Chinese people pray by lighting their incense sticks in the fire and then shaking them in the direction of the god they need help from.

They can get a good fire going. Tomorrow Oct 3 is the Moon Festival that includes family gatherings with Barbeque.

Not sure, but maybe this is R rated...

Chinese temples are very ornate. Quite the contrast with ordinary buildings which are purely functional. We noted that a job such as finish carpenter must not exist in Taiwan. We also have been pointing out electrical code violations left and right. One example was a major circuit for a building totally exposed about 8 feet in the air. An unfortunate curious kid or even some rain could shut down the whole building.

Must get some sleep...

Another day in Jhongli

2009-10-01T08:22:00.000-06:00

The day started at the Kuva

Our taxi passes several Betel Nut girls. Here is one...

After work we went to a Hot Pot restaurant. No English menu.

They give you the food and you cook it. Like fondue with mystery meat. It was actually good. It is easier than the Japanese barbeque since the water cooks things more evenly.

Other notes. I was supposed to go to dinner with a friend from Dallas, but he could not make it. That was going to be an adventure as I was going to go 40km South by myself to find him.
I did find out that I will likely have a late night tomorrow.
We will probably go to Taipei again this weekend.

Taipei101

2009-09-30T16:54:00.000-06:00

I have had my computer back for 3 days and no posts, sorry. I will put a post up every day, hopefully with new pictures. As a start, here is Taipei 101. It may not be the tallest building in the world now, but it was recently. To me it is the best looking tall building that I have been too. It has got style. I am sure we will go back to it again this weekend, but it will not be as good of weather.

River Bar Taiwan

2009-09-29T11:17:00.002-06:00

The ex-pat bar for Jhongli is River Bar. Ok, so there are probably several, but this is "ours". You can look it up on the web. One of our co-workers last night was tonight so we went there. Kim, the owner and boss of employees and customers greeted us by name as we walked in the door. When Daryl told her it was his last day she poured two shots of Tequila. One for her and one for him. So, naturally, I told her it was my last day too. She said, "No, you have two weeks left". Impressive.

Service employees are like that here. At the hotel I ordered a taxi but, I forgot to order a non-smoking taxi. I called down a few minutes later to try to correct it and they said they had already ordered it non-smoking. I could go on with several examples of excellent customer service.

At work, I often ask that something be done a certain way. If I do not repeat it it does not happen correctly.

So why in one situation are the Taiwanese mind readers and in another the language barrier seems impossible?

I love my computer

2009-09-28T09:19:00.002-06:00

I love my computer. Well not really, but I hate being without it. Sorry for no updates, but my computer caught a nasty virus and I had to put it in the shop for 5 days. Hopefully now I can get back to blogging....

Taiwan is very interesting. Where I am is not a big city, but not a small city. Taipei 101 is awesome. Wait for the pictures. The food around here is good. I did go to a night market and ate fried milk and grilled squid. Oh, there are lots of things I need to capture.

I hope to meet up with a friend from Dallas who is staying about 30 miles from here. Unfortunately, without a computer it will be last minute now.

Well, I really should be going to bed. Bye.

Murphy's Law

2009-09-25T20:12:00.002-06:00

I was at work for one day when I suggested I use my laptop to transfer a file. Norton found a virus on the USB stick. Two hours later I was unable to use my computer. I have been without a computer for several days. I get mine back in two days, but now I have a loaner.

Today is my first trip to Taipei. A Taiwanese coworker is showing us around. We are about an hour's drive from Taipei.

I should be able to make a blog post tonight. So look for it in the morning.

Taiwan day 1

2009-09-22T08:16:00.001-06:00

Observations for the day.

85C is great. It is a Starbucks but cheaper.
The work site is out of the city by Chinese standards. Still pretty built up.
I like the mountains in the background.
Weather is pretty nice, but humid. Could of sat outside all night at the work site. I needed a shower after walking around town.
Betelnut girls are interesting. A scantily clad girl selling sodas etc. Probably best seen from a moving car. Beatiful from afar... This would not happen in Malaysia.
Food looks to be promising. Breakfast will be Hotel. Lunch will be at worksite. Dinner will be out and about. There seems to be a huge number of good possible restaurants.
So, far Taxis are nicer than my car unlike Malaysia.

The desert Counter at 85C. Starbucks, but cheaper.

Teppanyaki is now a favorite on my GPS so that I can find it again. Very good, cheap and entertaining.

Small town Taiwan. The buildings are not as tall.

Kid Pix Before I left

2009-09-22T07:51:00.002-06:00

Before I get into Taiwan, here are pictures of my wife and kiddos before I left.

Japan!

2009-09-21T02:03:00.003-06:00

I am currently in Japan. I wish I could say it was really cool, but it is an airport. I am only here a few hours before continuing to Taiwan.
I watched 95% of Terminator Salvation before they decided to reboot the video system. I also caught The Hangover and Yes Man. That is more movies than I have seen in a while. I caught a couple hours of sleep too.
Sorry, can't think of anything terribly witty. As a matter of fact, I can't really think.

OK. Update.
I could have gone to an airport lounge, but it would have cost me money. By the time I checked out all the stores and had a beer it did not make sense. Here is my synopsis.
It was odd checking out the Japanese magazines. I kept trying to put them back backwards since the binding is on the right side.
I dont understand why all these people are up at 3AM. And why is it still light outside?
The Japanese style is all over the map. One couple is seriously trendy. The next is over the top geek.
All the white people have an Australian accent. G'day mate.

Google Maps Rocks

2009-09-02T16:48:00.003-06:00

My favorite software application since Picasa and iTunes is Google Maps. It can be used on the computer, but it really shines on a GPS enabled phone like my crackberry.
1) It has a "by public transit" option which helped me find a two bus line options that I did not know about that can get me to the light rail. I had really tried to find these on the DART website, but they did not come up. Google knows DART better than DART.
2) I regularly use it for local traffic. Once I was late leaving for a ballet recital on the other side of town. Traffic was worse than expected. I let Google set my route. It lead me through a neighborhood on back streets that got me to the school on time. I would never have guessed that route. Thanks Google.
3) Just today I had a random half day of errands. I worked out then thought "I need to wash my car". Searched Google Maps and found a highly reviewed carwash near by. From there, I got a hair cut same way. Then I found a burger joint for lunch the same way. The burger place was near work, very good and I had never heard of it. Wow! This is great stuff.

Musselfest 2009

2009-07-25T20:09:00.003-06:00

My lovely wife experimented with mussels tonight. She got it all right except maybe the quantity. The kids were not nuts about them so Andrea and I shared 4 lbs (in shell). I ate about 50 mussels. Oh and there was tomatos and fresh mozzarella in olive oil, bread to soak up the broth and a cold sparkling wine too. Ah, Andrea is great.

Simon's First Birthday

2009-07-20T10:06:00.002-06:00

Simon turned One on Friday. We had a family B-day party for him on Saturday. Note the "3rd Child" birthday cake.
Simon is doing good. He eats everything food or otherwise. He loves his new push toy. He continues to be the easiest baby ever. He even says "Da-Da", but it is a multipurpose word for now.

Natalie Joy Harris

2009-05-17T21:40:00.004-06:00

Andrea's proud brother Nate and his two day old daughter. Natalie was six weeks early and these are from in NICU. She is doing well.

The Young Men

2009-05-17T21:35:00.002-06:00

We got one obvious keeper picture from the recent sitting. Heck, even I look OK.
Simon is wearing his "Take my picture" clothes again. I took this just today.
Trevor trying to look goofy and actually looks cute.

Dad gets a new camera!

2009-04-05T19:38:00.002-06:00

I realize the blog is turning into 3 picture photo essays of the children. But hey, that is not so bad. This time I am showing off the first pictures out of my "new to me" camera. I have entered the world of the DSLR. It is an entry level Nikon. I already have plans to add a lens to the two that came with it. Look for more in the future.

Trevor will start playing piano next week. He has really found another gear in being a good kid. Not suprisingly, at school, he passed his Texas standardized test which starts in the third grade.

Simon has been reluctant to eat solid food. With seven teeth, it is about time he started eating. Here he has just finished an entire cup of apple sauce, the most solid food at one sitting yet.

Camille is terribly cute and she loves the camera. This is one of the first shots I took with the new camera and it is exactly what I was wanting when I bought it.

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-24T21:07:00.000-06:00

We went camping in Texas. Not beautiful Arkansas. Not even beautiful Texas. Just in Texas.
All had a good time though as seen below.

Simon was able to co-sleep with his Kimo and Luka. They are already spoiling him.

This was a rare sighting of Trevor. He pretty much was only around for meals and sleep. He found new friends with a skate board, built a bridge of tree limbs, and brought home a tick!

Camille ate up the attention of four adults and finally understood the meaning of camping. "Its eating"

Simon is mobile

2009-03-17T10:10:00.002-06:00

Simon is our little carpet inspector. He finds and tastes everything. He has started crawling in his own way.

Blue and Gold Banquet for Trevor 2009 and the week before

2009-03-09T19:40:00.002-06:00

Simon Says "I'm ready to go dad"

Trevor receiving his Bear badge

Camille says "Catch me daddy! Catch me!"

Other updates. Last week was a heck of a week.
Last Wednesday night Andrea was ILL.
Last Thursday I was put on the spot by the big big big boss of my group. He asked me what I thought and I laid it out for him. Either he saw it as great sharing or he has labeled me a crank.
Two AM Friday morning Trevor was ILL. Unfortunately, he did not make it to the bathroom.
Friday morning Camille had fever. I stayed home to help Andrea out.
Friday noon I was immobile on the couch with a fever too. Simon never got it.
Friday evening I made a flower arrangement for a baby shower, still with a fever.
Saturday morning I cleaned carpets
Saturday afternoon Andrea and I did a budget. First ever. LOADS of fun.
Sunday afternoon Andrea tried to understand how it was the final day for Trevor to have his Cub Scout achievements done and collectively we had not figured it out until then.
Sunday afternoon Trevor and I did his school report. LOADS of fun.
Sunday evening Trevor and I slammed through many Cub Scout achievements including whittling a bar of soap into the shape of a T at 9PM.

Simon's Photos - Dad Tried Hard

2009-03-01T19:38:00.000-06:00

Random

2009-02-24T22:01:00.002-06:00

Internet Random Image, not a real Random.
My sister Cindy joined Facebook. Cathy was already on. Anybody reading this?

Poor Simon is a little under the weather. He coughs and wakes himself up. He was actually cranky tonight, which is so unlike him. I feel bad for him.

Trevor was cranky because he has a school project to work on. He has to have 10 questions to ask a police officer. I think he would prefer to have a root canal than come up with 10 questions.
I told him, "Ask him why the officer asked me to step outside my front door before questioning me?"

Oh Yes. Trevor had Scouting for Food last week. He put yellow bags on people's doors. Then on Saturday he was supposed to pick up the cans of food folks left out. Well, he went out of town with the Grandparents and I picked them up. Our ever vigilant community watch called the cops on me. The cop was very pleasant and it was easily explained.. and I did not die of a heart attack.

Camille is at the Grandparents house tonight. Of our three kids, she is the happiest and she is not even here.

I am starting another blog full of stuff I want to write that maybe, just maybe someone else will read. It will not be family oriented, I will point coworkers to it. It looks a little rough, but I will post something there tonight.

http://theglassistoobig.blogspot.com/

Trevor

2009-02-24T06:01:00.001-06:00

Trevor keeps on truckin. His soccer team folded. :-(. So, now he is enrolled in Tae Kwon Do at the rec center for next month. We will see how he likes it. He won a trophy for pinewood derby this year. That was fun. He had the fastest run of the day, but his car slowed down so he did not win the overall. Gotta figure that out. He played hookie on Friday so he could go to Arkansas with his grandparents to see his cousins. Yesterday he cranked through his homework and Fridays classwork quickly and went out to sell quartz he found in Arkansas. The sale did NOT go well. Last of all, he is bummed that he cannot have a Facebook page. You have to be 13. Collective sigh from parents. Whew.

Slimey J

2009-02-14T18:31:00.000-06:00

Here is Slimy J as Simon is frequently called enjoyed his sweet potato. However, eating was not real high on his list. Paul and Andrea are now on Facebook. I will try to update the blog, but Facebook is getting all of Andrea's time.

Prison Food

2009-01-14T21:10:00.002-06:00

Andrea and I came back from the holidays and decided we were temporarily broke. Andrea has cooked at home 10 nights in a row all the while buying as little new food as possible. Nearly all the meals were the delicious interesting and totally new dishes that I have come to expect from my dear wife.

Then, tonight, there was prison food.

She has been talking about it for a while. All three are back of the freezer items. Several month old chicken and dumplings that we already knew were not quite right after freezing. Hash browns which did not turn brown. And a half bag of green peas. It really wasn't that bad, but it did not look very good.

Here is the refridgerator now.

Here is what happens when you mix an engineer, a bank statement and Excel
I start the month with 100% of my money. I end on the 14th with 1.2% of that.
Dad I will send you a check tomorrow. Thanks for being patient.

Camille's third birthday

2008-11-23T22:37:00.004-06:00

The best part of Camille's birthday was at home with three candles.

Earlier in the afternoon, the big girl got to help mommy make the cake.

Camille (and Trevor) really like the cash register. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Lakeland.

Camille also got a tricycle. Of course, some assembly was required %@#&!

THUMB

2008-11-13T13:58:00.002-06:00

It appears we have a thumb-sucker on our hands! This is a first for our family. I have desperately tried to get Simon to take a pacifier. His brother took one for a long time, and it made him so happy. His sister used neither the thumb nor the pacifier. What does she use to comfort herself, you ask? Crying. Don't ask. Anyway, Simon has adamantly refused the pacifier, but has discovered his thumb. I never thought thumb-sucking could be so sweet and precious!

yummy:

today's nap:

thumb-sucking on the living room floor...

...leads to this:

Picasa test

2008-11-12T10:48:00.001-06:00

(I am testing posting pics directly from Picasa; forgive me for the lame content)

Farmer Paul heads out to bale some hay:

Farmer Camille DOES NOT APPROVE:

Halloween Cuties:

Mustache

2008-11-01T09:24:00.000-06:00

Important Update!!!!!

2008-10-28T13:02:00.022-06:00

Not really. That was just to get your attention. Actually, there is nothing exciting to report around here. Just life as usual. However, I have been chastized for the lack of updates so OK, here you go. A glimpse into our lives:

When mom is cooking, and distracted by a toddler incessantly asking the same question, she cleary doesn't pay attention to what is going on just a few feet away from her (notice that Simon seems unfazed by what happens to him):

Simon sleeping on Trevor. HOW can that be comfortable?!?

Simon has learned to sit up! Well not really, but he has learned to be still for 3 seconds after I prop him up with the Boppy. Then he fell over:

We went to the State Fair of Texas. For eight and a half hours! With three kids! Including a nursing 3-month-old! It was actually a lot of fun. Camille got to play at the pretend farm:

Trevor and Camille rode a ride together:

Of all people, we ran into our friends Kalen, Michael, and Greta. See post in September re: "It's hard to get a good picture of two two-year-olds":

Paul and I enjoyed some delicious Chicken Fried Bacon, dipped in ranch dressing. Yes, you read that right. It won first prize this year as best new Fair food. We also had fried jellybeans, fried s'mores, fried cheesecake, fried potatoes, fried corny dogs, fried olive bites, funnel cake, nachos, cotton candy, and fruit.

Trevor and Paul checked out the car show. And just like an irresponsible adult, Trevor yakked on the cell phone whislt driving:

I know this post is media heavy, but that's really what everyone wants, isn't it? I'll throw a little bit of text in down here for those of you that want to read it after looking at the pictures of our cute kids.

Trevor is doing very well in school. He got his first report card, ever (our school district doesn't send out report cards until 3rd grade), and he got straight A's. He also was tested for proficiency in several areas and scored in the 4th and 5th grade range in everything. Smart kid. He is currently involved in soccer and Cub Scouts. He will be 9 in a month.

Camille is enjoying both her two-day-a-week school and the ballet class she is taking. She will have an actual recital, with costumes, in December. You can bet you will be seeing pictures of that! Probably video too. Camille will be 3 next month.

Simon is growing by leaps and bounds. He's probably double his birth weight by now. He smiles, laughs, follows you with his eyes, and sleeps a good 7 to 9 hour stretch at night most of the time. He's thinking about rolling over. He is 3.5 months old now.

Paul and Andrea are overworked, exhausted, broke, and old. And mostly loving it. I wish we could enjoy the kids without feeling overworked, exhausted, broke, and old, but it all seems to go hand-in-hand. Paul and Andrea are post-40.

Peace out.

Proof of Simon

2008-10-16T05:22:00.004-06:00

As I posted the following.....post, I realized Simon was absent from the blog. Well he is back, cuter than ever. He smiles and coos. His latest advance is figuring out that he has at least some control over these 'arms' that he has. Last night I was watching the debate with him and asked him who he would vote for. Simon sort of pointed to McCain. Maverick.

Underwear is fun to wear

2008-10-15T17:25:00.005-06:00

Dad is catching up on the depressing financial news and the kids provide some perspective.

Shameless Commerce

2008-09-30T20:05:00.003-06:00

It is that time of year again. I will put this flyer up in my office to help Trevor sell popcorn. If you live near us, buy some. If you live far away, say Florida, it is not worth shipping. See your local cub scout. You can donate money for Trevor, any spare change will do, just fold it up and put it in an envelope to Trevor.

Not the momma is back home

2008-09-28T11:48:00.004-06:00

I (not the momma) am back home. I got home 7AM Saturday morning after 26 hours of travel on three planes. By the end of Saturday I had been up for 50 hours with about 5 hours of sleep on the planes. Yay international travel.

My family welcomed me home. I got plenty of attention from all members of my family. Smothered is a word that could be used. However, since I had been away for two weeks I ate it up. Even though I did not get anything done and I was irritable from jet lag.

After two weeks of only business and adult contacts I knew I was in for a rude awakening. Family did not disappoint. Camille was crying when I first saw her after two weeks. Trevor was in tears and not ready to go to soccer despite my insistance that he was ready to go 30 minutes early. (His socks were too small and his shoestrings did not match) By the end of the day I had been spit up on and cleaned up pee off the bathroom floor. All the kids were in tears multiple times through the day. The older two were sent to their rooms repeatedly. Ah, home again.

Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.

Sweetness and Light

2008-09-26T12:35:00.004-06:00

Camille is 2 years old. I don't really need to say anything else to explain the following movie, but I will anyway. Camille's preschool teachers, Sunday School teachers, babysitters, and her friends' mothers always say how sweet and well-behaved Camille is. I will give them that - she can be a very sweet and sometimes stunningly well-behaved child. But like I said, she is 2 years old. The following "discussion" took place this morning when she decided that she was not aboel to pick up her drink (the one that she threw on the ground in the beginning of the movie). Yes, I drug it out a little longer than I would normally tolerate it, but that, my dear readers, was solely for your blog-viewing enjoyment. When she behaves like this, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Borrowed camera in Malaysia

2008-09-23T10:58:00.004-06:00

I noticed a camera on a colleague's desk and asked if I could borrow it. This is a work night, but one of our group of four is leaving tomorrow.

Here is my reason for coming to Malaysia I took this at night as I was leaving.

Unfortunately we left at Ramadan break fast time. No Taxis.
We took the bus and rail. It is 7:30PM not 2AM. Clearly we are not with the program. Everyone Muslim is having dinner with friends and family.
We finally made it to TGIFriday's our waitress was a good sport.
Later we went to a bar with Shisha (Hookah). We had a few...

Seven Buds Tall

2008-09-22T08:58:00.029-06:00

Honey, I measured Camille, and she's 7 Buds tall. So an outfit that is 6 cans tall should work for her.

We went out to my parents' house this weekend for a birthday party. We celebrated all six kids' birthday at once instead of trying to do six individual parties throughout the year. Kuntry fun was had by all.

My niece Shelby is a little momma and loves holding her baby cousin:

Trevor got to pet a baby alligator at East Texas Gators & Wildlife Park:

My brother, Uncle Nate - Funkel Nate, always buys the kids presents that they love. This year, two of the winners were fake teeth and whoopee cushions. Camille lurved her fake teeth and wore them for hours:

Nothing says precious like two toddlers blowing up their whoopee cushions:

Cousin Sam got a dinosaur hat for a present:

And the dog, Mindy, caught a rat out on the front forty:

Trevor got to drive the tractor, while shirtless. I'll have to start calling him Bubba Billy Jack:

Aunt Rachell got to hold a sleeping Simon. I think they both enjoyed it:

And last but not least, my sister informed me that I always post awful pics of her kids, and she wanted to make sure my ~~48,209~~ 11 blog readers knew they really are cute. This pic is from Florida this month:

And a little news flash: Last night, Sunday, September 21, 2008, for the first time ever, Simon slept through the night. Celebrating may now commence.

My big photo post from Malaysia

2008-09-21T07:35:00.004-06:00

Well...
I went to Batu caves which are near KL. It is a Hindu shrine with 200 something steps. At about step 100, I lost my digital cameral and almost all the pictures that I had taken in Malaysia. I don't know whether it was picked directly off me or whether it fell to the ground first, but in any event it was gone 30 seconds after I had taken a picture.
.
So, this is an internet picture of the 43m statue of a Hindu diety.

My coworker Jim had gone Saturday and came back Sunday to see the macaque monkeys. I fed them a bag of peanuts. Jim fed them for probably an hour while Japanese tourists took his picture. I went up to the top, toured and bought a disposable camera. I would put up the pictures, but I can't find the USB port on the camera, it says 'return for processing' whatever that means.

Also there I had a snack. A donut with jalapeno in it. Very good for 15 cents.

Just after breakfast I went to a 6 story electronics mall. They had everything. I got the mandatory USB powered fan. Pretty cool.

Earlier, I went to the Museum of Islamic Art. It was a pretty museum, but unfortunately 90% of the items were only a few hundred years old. You might think that Islam was recent. I did learn that Mohamed is buried at Medina. Thats all for my tour of foreign religions.

Later, I went to China Town shrine of commerce. I did my major shopping. I hope everyone likes what I got. I went to a guide book recommended set of chinese food stalls. I had rice, chicken, something she said was fish but tasted like pork and finally some dish the lady insisted I try. It had small whole fish and onions with the brown sauce. The fish were crunchy.

One week in (a country South of) Bangkok

2008-09-19T21:54:00.004-06:00

I have been here in KL about 6 days. I am at work. I am feeling a little lonely as my Malaysian co-workers are not in yet at 11AM Saturday. I need materials and files added to the tool, so I have a few minutes for a post.

I guess I am well traveled, but I do not find KL to be any sort of extreme travel experience. For one nearly everyone speaks English. For two KL has a lot of wealth so when I am around the hotel everything is actually nicer than US.

The Malaysian food is not too wierd. Hiabchi cooked skewers of beef and chicken that are dipped into a mild chili sauce are an example. Malysia is a melting pot with double digit percentage populations of Chinese and Indians and Thailand is just to the North. So we have eaten Malaysian, Japanese, Thai, Chinese as well as Pizza Hut and McDonalds. I have violated every rule for travel eating. Ice in drinks, peeled fruit, water from the cooler. I even had Sushi and Shashimi which I avoided in China.

One of the reasons for so few pictures is that I cannot bring a camera to work and we tend to do things on the way home from work. I will work to get a camera pass so maybe I will have more pictures later.

Religion is interesting here. It is a Muslim country and probably half of the women wear head scarves. It is Ramadan, so my Muslim co-workers are fasting during the day. I felt bad that two days ago we worked until 11:30PM and my coworker had to eat his pre-fast meal at 5:30AM. However, the melting pot it is there are Buddist and Hindus here in significant numbers. I have even seen three Christian churches. So, other than the Ramadan influences (skip lunch OK but Hard stop at 7PM to break fast) and a two hour lunch on Friday for prayers it could be work at home.

Politics are interesting, their is a majority coalition and the opposition. They have a King and Queen much like Britain. The equivalent of president is the Prime Minister. The Prime Minster is the top of the ruling part. However, the coalition is composed of many parties. Parties can jump from majority to opposition and swing the majority swapping power. Say there was a Hillary Clinton block with the democratic party and they suddenly decided to support the republicans. They would tilt advantage to the Republicans and the entire government could change.

Money. It is all over the map. A premium taxi from the hotel to work is 27ringit or about $9, if it was not included in room. A standard teksi is $2. Our hotel is $120 US which is great for the 5 stars it is. Lunch in the cafeteria, a basic rice and chicken plate, is $1. Breakfast at the hotel (included in room) is $25US. A cheap car is $15000 US due to import taxes on foreign cars. Duties can be 75% of the cost of a new car. That is, a Toyota costs 4X what it should in USD. With salaries a fraction of US, a new car easily costs more than a years salary. No wonder there are so many old cars and scooters.

Well I really need to get some work done so I will stop with that.

Hotel and China Town

2008-09-16T10:31:00.002-06:00

My sleep is a little screwy. I got my first night of decent sleep. Now it is 12:45AM and I am not tired. There are now 4 guys from Texas here, we went out tonight after dinner.
The hotel is very nice here in KL. Similar to China, lots of marble. Very luxurious.

The neighbors include Gucci and Prada. Good neighborhood.
KL has a China Town
It closes at 11 on a weeknight. That is one of my coworkers scratching his chin.
I did buy one thing. This dress for Camille was $10. I used the cans in the hotel fridge to help show its size. Honey it is a "4". Does it look big enough? I can get more.

The Petronas Towers

2008-09-16T10:22:00.002-06:00

The Pertronas Towers are the icon of KL. 380 Meters, 450 Meters with antennas.

The next two shots are from the KL Tower, its only 420m with Antennas. My coworker and I were able to go up in it.

The voyage around the world...

2008-09-16T10:01:00.004-06:00

Left Texas at 10PM Friday.

This pic is in California after 1500 miles and 4 1/2 hours, 2 hours sleep. Still Chipper.

This pic is in Hong Kong after 8400 miles and 20 hours, 4 1/2 hours sleep.
I am very disappointed that Starbucks is not open yet, it is 6:30AM, Sunday.
This pic is in Malaysia after 9900 miles and 26 hours, 4 1/2 hours sleep.
I really just want a shower. It is 1PM local time.

Daddy is gone, Day 3

2008-09-15T09:44:00.005-06:00

First, the pictures:

How 2-month-olds pose:

How 2-year-olds pose:

How 8-year-olds pose:

Will explain below:

This is the third full-day since Paul has ~~deserted us~~ been away on a business trip. The tallies so far:

Number of cooking pots and large, hard-cover books lost to trapping giant, man-eating spiders on our floor:
Pots - 2
Books - 4

Number of vomiting episodes by virus-stricken children - 6

Number of days of school lost due to aforementioned vomiting - 1

Number of hours of sleep mommy has gotten, on average, the last three nights, due to crying newborns, vomiting 8-year-olds, and 2-year-olds demanding yogurt at 4 a.m. (don't ask) - 3 1/2 hours

Number of miles Mommy has driven the two previous days in desperate attempts to have adult company - 180 miles

Number of evenings, in percentages, that Mommy has a had a glass of wine after the kids were all in bed because she felt she deserved it as hazard pay - 100%

Number of crying babies currently in Mommy's lap, effectively bringing this blog post to a close - 1

Malaysia

2008-09-14T16:32:00.003-06:00

I had hoped that I would be able to do a good post by now. It is Monday morning here and I am about to go down to breakfast. I left Texas 10PM on Friday and arrived in KL 2PM on Sunday (1AM Sunday CDT). Lots of caffine and little sleep.

I took recommendations and quickly left the room and started touring to stay awake until dark. I went straight to KLCC and the Petronas Towers. The tours were over for the day, so I went to the mall below it and took this picture. The culture shock was not near as bad as expected. Other than middle eastern music playing in the mall and the strange cars it looked like a big city. It seems a like a halfway point between US and China in terms of government works and personal freedom.

I used my new phone to contact a co-worker here via email. We met for a 'Ramadan buffet' dinner and then went to the KL tower. It is a tall tower and it was open. Then to bed.

Today started a 4Am local time when my new phone reminded me of an appointment which was on Texas time. I about chunked it.

Below is the Petronas towers from the mall below.

Pauls adventure begins

2008-09-12T18:58:00.002-06:00

So far I have made it to the airport. 1) My international flight is not international until the next plane and 2) The employees outnumbered the customers at check in and security. So, I am just charging the laptop with my extra hour.

Paul's Malaysian adventure

2008-09-11T20:37:00.003-06:00

First, If you haven't read the blog in a few days skip immediately to the next post.

Still here? Ok, as you may know, I am headed to Malaysia in 24 hours. I will attempt to post to this blog while I am there. Think positive thoughts for Andrea as she tries to wrangle an 8 year old, a two year old and 7 week old.

Anyway, I have taken my communications from the 90s to the modern age. In the last couple of days I have gotten: A crackberry, a corporate Skype type product for the laptop and a bluetooth headset. I called Andrea on her cell with it. After I hung up, I pondered what that call went through. Headset > wireless to PC > PC wireless to router > Router to some server at work > Some server at work placed a cell phonecall > Finally Andrea answered the cell phone. Wow.

Ok, now read Andrea's post again.

Two Years: A Day in the Life

2008-09-11T06:09:00.033-06:00

It was two years ago, September 10, 2006, that in a huge conference room in a fancy hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, various orphanage staff brought 14 baby girls to their new parents. What a crazy, wild half hour that was! Crying babies, stunned parents. I think most of us parents say we can't remember a lot of details about that moment. Others remember it in exquisite detail, as if the world slowed down to slow motion. In either case, it is a split second of time that is seared in our memories.

So what is life like for little Zhang Cai Miao, whisked from small-city China to big-city Texas at the age of 9 months? A pictoral essay for you follows.

At 8:30 in the morning, Mommy comes to wake me up - but I'm already awake and smiling!

I want to help "wake up" baby Simon. But he's been awake off and on for hours.

Time for breakfast. I had a bagel with peanut butter, strawberries, and cheese.

Taking care of business.

Time to hug Simon again.

Dressed for the day and posing for Mommy!

We got to meet Daddy for lunch.

Two-year-olds can have fun with anything (this is a tortilla).

Time for ballet class. I'm a natural!

Waking up from nap - I'm not very cooperative at this time of day. You'll notice I have on another outfit. Lunch does that to me sometimes.

Mommy got out the outfit I was wearing when she got me two years ago, and the bottle that came with me. It's kind of tight now.

See? Here I am, wearing it two years earlier, to the day!

Before dinner with our friends, a picture of my whole family.

Goofing off with choptsticks.

Me and my best friend Greta. She is from the same small town in China I am from, and was adopted the same day.

My Mommy said getting two two-year-olds to pose is not easy.

My Daddy wants some pictures of me in my pretty "Red Couch" dress.

I am getting so big!

I am REALLY tired of having pictures taken of me today.

But I'll dance a little before bed and Daddy can take one more picture!

And here I am wearing the same pretty dress two years ago in China!

Labor Day

2008-09-06T12:28:00.007-06:00

We went to visit my alleged sister in an unnamed suburb of an unnamed city in an unnamed state that may or may not be adjacent to Texas. So what do you do for fun on a hot weekend with 4 adults and 6 kids in the house, do you ask? A picture essay to show you:

We take naps with our hand slightly cocked in the air:

We strike a pose on the river:

We indulge in ice cream, even when clearly don't need to be doing so:

We show off our molars:

We get messy. REALLY messy:

We glare:

We put the baby to sleep in a doll bed:

We climb fake rock walls:

We pose for Mountain Dew commercials:

We... well, I'm not really sure what we're doing here:

We go snorkeling in one foot of water:

And, last, when it gets late, we've all been around each other too long, we've spent too much money to go anywhere, and we are getting delirious, we get out the pantyhose and put it on our heads.

Smiles

2008-09-04T14:18:00.001-06:00

Preschool

2008-09-04T08:58:00.002-06:00

Camille started preschool today. It's at our church, which runs a nice preschool program, so it was a familiar building, classroom, and even teacher. She didn't bat an eye - she was very happy to go and play with her teachers. Daddy wanted to see pictures at work, so here's the blog post, honey.

In her pretty new outfit (the girl is a clotheshound):

Little girl, big backpack:

At her school:

And now, I have 3 glorious hours to myself, with "only" one child. And I am going to pamper myself - I'll do laundry, nurse the baby, pay bills, nurse the baby, maybe even vacuum, and then nurse the baby. But currently Simon is complaining loudly that I am not paying attention to him, so I am going to nurse the baby.

Cool Brothers

2008-09-02T16:58:00.004-06:00

(To get the full effect of the picture, click on it once to make the picture larger)

First Day of 3rd Grade

2008-08-25T10:05:00.013-06:00

My baby. My first baby. The person who made me a momma. He started 3rd grade today. How did he get so big and so smart? A little bragging here: Trevor is going to be in the gifted program this year. Academics are truly his gifted area. He is a quick learner, a fabulous reader, and is a math whiz.

A retrospective

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN, 2005

FIRST DAY OF 1st GRADE, 2006:

FIRST DAY OF 2nd GRADE, 2007:

FIRST DAY OF 3rd GRADE, 2008:

Momma jump starts the mini-van, with too much help

2008-08-24T19:50:00.005-06:00

By Not-the-momma.

The mini-van has automatic closing doors. We are a distracted family and twice a door has been left open inside the garage all night. This would be fine, but our mini-van is not smart enough to turn off the interior lights when this happens, so the battery was low in the morning, the second time.

I had taken public transportation to work. That is another story, but it means my car was at home with a good battery but also I can't just run home.

So Andrea calls me and I start to walk her through the process.

First up, our bikes hang from the garage ceiling over my hood, so the hood on my car could not be raised. Andrea had to pull my car out, take down the bikes, then pull the car back in and open the hood.

Then I talked her through the process all the way up to the last connection on the good car. I mention there might be a little spark and Andrea stops. She has heard about car batteries exploding and all the children are either strapped into the mini-van or leaning over the hood. Not going to do it. Note to self: Don't mention 'There might be a tiny spark" when explaining things.

Andrea gets a neighbor to help and tries again. I guess it is a little known fact that battteries don't blow up if there is a neighbor present. With some additional phone support the van is started.

Andrea walks the neighor out and exchanges some pleasantries and says goodbye.

Andrea comes back to the garage to find the van off!. The oldest child has decided to turn the mini-van off to "prevent the battery from running out!" Frustrated, but with her fresh experience Andrea is able to restart it.

No, not done yet with story yet. The van's sliding doors are electric and they are confused so they won't shut. More phone support, but I am not really Googling anything on stuck open doors. Eventually, we found that they will close manually if you are determined enough. That reset them and she was on her way one hour later and drenched in sweat.

End of Summer

2008-08-24T19:18:00.008-06:00

Summer is over. Trevor starts third grade tomorrow. I should have included a picture of his school. They are working on a renovation during the summer and the day before school it still looks like it was bombed out. I assume they have figured out how to hold classes in it. The preview day was canceled.
.
After only working one week of the five weeks Simon has been around I am back at work. I (Not-the-momma) went back to work Thursday for a two day week. I stayed late the first night and almost had to work this weekend. Back to reality.
.
Simon is doing well. He is 10 and a half pounds and he does everything well. He is occasionally cooing instead of just grunting and crying. The boy can grunt. He can pretty much hold his head up and his legs are pretty strong too. We even think we have caught him with a few smiles.
.
Trevor is a great help with Simon and Camille always wants to hold him.
.
Anyway, here are some pictures...

Simon, says "I caught a fish this big!"

Trevor, Camille and Simon in front of the newly stained, finally, front door.

Bubba and Sissy posed

Bubba and Sissy not posed.

Camille showing us her 'Yeah, I threw my bread off the table, so what!" face

Gratuitous Picture Upload

2008-08-22T08:49:00.008-06:00

I'm home by myself now with three kids. As if I even had time to come up with a thoughtful, comprehensive post about the joys and otherwise of raising three children, much less write it down. So just enjoy the pictures.

Camille wearing the size 9-month overalls someone gave Simon:

Camille doing her favorite thing:

Munchkin trying to convice us she's as cute as Simon (didn't work):

Our three kids in the morning:

Babies sleep in funny positions:

Luka (Andrea's Mom) and Simon:

The Family Minus One

2008-08-14T22:04:00.003-06:00

Trevor is spending the night at a friend's house. Down one kid, we have free blogging time.

Simon with a good hair day

Simon says "Why is my boppy pink?"
Camille takes the opportunity to get a closer look
I caught Camille napping earlier
Andrea, sleeping Simon and our curious cat Xena

We had a good day today. Simon slept most of it. Hopefully we will not be up all night.

Catching up in photos

2008-08-13T09:22:00.005-06:00

Here are some of the pictures and video taken in the last week.

Trevors Diving ShowTrevor took a 5 night diving class. and this was the performance for the parents.
.

Camille can't hold Simon Enough

Mr Big Pants
Simon says 'Thanks Aunt Cindy for the Shorts. Mom and Dad like how they come up to my armpits."

Simon learning piano from his big brother.

Trevors big dive...

BioHazard

2008-08-13T08:50:00.002-06:00

On Monday night Simon befouled himself and his changing station. Then while we were cleaning up we left him uncovered and he peed on our sheets requiring a 3AM linen change. We now have a story to tell at Christmas in 20 years. :-)

I should have posted this yesterday, but ya kn0w, we'er like soooo busy. We were out of the house by 9AM to take the older two children to the dentist. After that we went to the mall for several hours. We have not done that in ages. Then, I went and got a haircut. That transitioned into a hasty dinner and bathing. Then both Momma and Not-the-momma had hour plus long conference calls AT THE SAME TIME. Momma's was local. Mine was Malaysia. Amazing coincidence.

KL
(Internet photo of Kuala Lumpur)

Not-the-momma

Olympics

2008-08-11T07:46:00.002-06:00

We are enjoying the Olympics. This is the reason HDTV was invented. If you did not see the opening cerimonies, shame on you, they were awesome...until the parade of nations. Who knew there were so many countries? :-).

We have a special link to China and we have seen many of the sights first hand. The cycling road race went to the same section of the great wall that we went to.

I almost titled this 'Bye Bye to my TV shows'. We use a laptop as a TIVO and recording the Olympics has pretty much flagged everything else for deletion.

I am off work again for a couple more weeks and it is, get this, raining. The other day I poured four gallons of water into a coffee can with the bottom cut out (to check for Chinch bugs) and within a minute you could not tell I had poured water in that spot.

3rd Child Syndrome

2008-08-05T17:33:00.002-06:00

Simon Getting Changed, 3rd Child Style

We all know about third child syndrome. We have seen it in others. First child is raised in absolute sterile conditions. Everyone's hands are washed a dozen times a day. By the third child the standards have fallen far. If the third child kisses the dog on the butt it only merits an eye-roll. We are not immune to this. Take our diaper changing station.

For Trevor it was in his own room atop a $300 changing table. His butt soothed by the freshly washed terry cotton surface. He could gaze out the window that was just above the changing table. His diapers and other paraphenalia were tucked away in their proper place in drawers just beneath him. His soiled diapers went into the 'diaper Genie'. Now contrast the picture above.

1) Simon is getting changed at the foot of our bed. Why? Because that is the shortest distance at 2AM and his room is totally empty and painted the wrong color. I'M WORKING ON IT ALREADY.

2) Simon is laid directly on the plastic of the waterproof changing pad. Why? Because he would pee on the washed terry cotton surface if we put it on. This is easier to wipe off.

3) Simon has no window (See #1). However, he can usually gaze at a cat that is twice his weight who looks back with a gaze that says 'Just wait kiddo, one day you will have a room and I will poop in it.'

4) Simon's diapers, wipes and lotions are spread across Andrea's dresser a couple feet away. Why? Easy to find at night.

5) Simon's soiled diapers go in the gender neutral colored tub that we got for 'free' with a two night hospital stay. Why? Lets face it. Up to a point the diapers don't smell so you don't need a diaper genie to put them in. Then once they do smell the odor is so bad that it penetrates the diaper genie so that the clean plastic of the genie smells just as bad as a diaper. Oh, and the tub was 'free'.

Not-the-momma

Still Going

2008-08-03T05:49:00.007-06:00

What are YOU lookin' at?

Simon 1 - Dad 0

Well it HAS been an interesting couple of days. When the kids came back from Andrea's parents Friday it was late and everyone was hungry. I got dinner all set up and we sat down. Camille who had been acting strangely projectile vomited all over the dinner table. The only one who was unaffected by this chaos was Simon who slept through it. Camille has not shown any signs of illness since, but that killed our social plans for the weekend and set up a mini quarantine.

Yesterday I very nearly caught some Zs in the afternoon on the couch, but we have too many children and an answering machine that could wake the dead. So, no nap.

After two weeks I (Not-the-momma) am officially tired. I woke this morning at 5:40 and everytime I moved Simon grunted. I thought it better to get up and maybe get things done, but before I had finished a cup of coffee and early morning surfing Simon was up and needed to be held. At least he is really cute.

The Momma

2008-07-31T08:52:00.011-06:00

Hasn't Not-the-momma done a great job of blogging? It's been hard for me to do too much because I spend a lot of time sitting around attached to a baby. Not that I'm complaining - he's adorable - but he is time-consuming. N-T-M is back at work today, the big kids are at the grandpaents' house, so it's just me and the little guy at home. You know, when I was home by myself with Trevor in those early weeks, it seemed SO FLIPPING DIFFICULT I didn't know how I would do it by myself. I can completely laugh at myself now; if I had only known how easy it was to be home with only a baby! The little squirt is asleep now, so I'll try to get in a good blog post here.

Ha ha! Just as soon as I typed that, he woke up and started whimpering. I'll be back in a while.

OK... I'm back. Simon's diaper and clothes have been changed. He's been fed. My king-sized comforter is covered in baby pee. He's wide awake, and has the hiccups, but seems for the moment content in his vibrating chair next to me. We'll see how long this lasts.

AS I WAS SAYING, actually what was I saying? I have no idea. 41-year-old Mommy brain, sorry. I'll start in with a new topic: The Big Kids. Trevor and Camille have done very well with Simon. Trevor wants to hold him constantly (until he starts crying or pooping), and Camille likes to go over to him when he's in a bouncy chair and kiss him and take him things. Very sweet, both of them. I know they are suffering a little from the lack of attention, but I'm confident it will even out and get easier in a few weeks as Simon gets a little older and a little less labor-intensive. The biggest benefit of having Paul home has been Trevor and Camille getting most of his attention. I seem to be able to do very little besides baby maintenance, so having a whole other parent here to attend to them has been invaluable. They are at my parents' house right now, getting their attention. A few of my favorite recent pics of The Big Kids:

Trevor (in red) and his Arkansas kinfolk doing his favorite thiing (<--- get it ?):

Camille made us clear off the table so she could spread out the paper and read it. Notice she's reading an ad about bunion relief:

Camille striking a pose in ballet class:

Here's my favorite movie from her ballet class:

OK, this post has taken about 2 hours to write. Simon is, for the moment, asleep. It's noon. I am in my pajamas. Am going to rectify that situation right now!

Vacation at last

2008-07-30T07:37:00.006-06:00

I, not-the-momma, have been away from work for two weeks on paternity leave. Today is my last day, I go back to work tomorrow. Last night Andrea's parents took Trevor and Camille home with them for a couple of days. So, today only, the parents outnumber the children. THIS is vacation. Still it took more than hour to make a 15 minute blog post because Simon is only happy on my shoulder.

Ten minutes outside and this is the best photo...

This one is good too....

Simon Says 'Hi Y'all'

Camille's Bayaay

2008-07-29T10:58:00.005-06:00

Camille was in baby ballet this summer. She uses the french pronunciation of ballet, "bayaay". Here are some cute pix from today's visitor/picture day.

I am sure Camille will quickly learn that there are two Ls in ballet and this cute toddler talk will end. Last night she said she was 'cold'. Since forever she would pronounce it 'told'. I worked on her one night "Not 'T-old', 'K - old'. Her response, "I'm K-told".

More Simon

2008-07-28T06:21:00.004-06:00

Latest news is his cord finally fell off. He now gets a full bath. All is well.

Bath OK

Too much bathing!
Thank goodness it is over

Startle reflex.
I would not have done this if he had not done it a half a dozen times already during this nap. It was like he was cheering every closed door or kids outburst. He never woke up from these.

Number Two

2008-07-28T06:18:00.002-06:00

I almost wrote a post titled 'Black and Bountiful Baby Butt Bubbles' about the first night in the hospital with Simon Be glad I did not.

Number One

2008-07-23T07:57:00.003-06:00

Simon is good at one thing.
Within a few minutes of being born, on the cleanup table, he tried to pee on the nurse. A little fountain of youth.
For the first few days, he seemed to be saving his pee for diaper changes.
As experienced parents we know to cover his wee-wee with a cloth when we take his diaper off. The doctor's realizing that this takes all the fun out of being a baby boy, changed the routine from Trevor's babyhood. We need to squeeze a liberal amount of Vaseline on Simon's wee-wee at every diaper change for a week. You can see where this is going. You can't liberally squeeze Vaseline on his wee-wee AND cover it with a cloth at the same time. So, the typical 3AM changing goes something like this.
1) Lay Simon on pad.
2) Get supplies - diaper pail, new diaper, cloth, wet wipes, Aquaphor (butt polish), Vaseline.
3) Put cloth over Simon's tummy.
4) Open dirty diaper.
5) Wipe up bright red bum. Crying starts here. Poor guy.
6) Put dirty diaper in pail.
7) Put clean diaper under Simon.
8) Apply butt polish to bum with fingers.
9) Clean fingers with wet wipe.
10) Grab Vaseline tube.
11) Lift cloth and Apply Vaseline
12) Gasp in horror as Simon pees on your shirt, his outfit, etc.
13) Quickly cover his wee-wee with the cloth smearing Vaseline on the cloth, his thigh etc.
14) Chuck the cloth in the pail
15) Use several wet wipes to clean up the mess.
16) Put dirty diaper #2 in pail
17) Put clean diaper #2 under Simon
18) Apply Vaseline
19) Close diaper
20) Change Simon's outfit.
21) Change your clothes
22) Hold Simon until he is happy.
Not-the-momma

Everything is going fine...

2008-07-22T06:34:00.003-06:00

Family Picture

Simon loves his bath...NOT
Clean!
....and content.

Who knew it would be this busy. Since Simon is our third, you would think "we" (Andrea on him and I on the other two) had a handle on things. And in some ways we do. Even the really big 'Crises' are not as bad and don't last long. It is the start of a marathon, but we have done two already, so we are confident. However, this time our two older kids are like 110 pounds of (well loved) excess baggage we have to carry on our marathon. It is not that we won't finish, we just won't set any record times.

That is why it was day 4 before Simon got a bath and he and Andrea were the only ones completely focused on the bath.

This would be a longer post if I had more time...

Not-the-momma

Home at Last

2008-07-19T11:36:00.005-06:00

Not pregnant anymore
New car seat
At the sidewalk
Front door
Camille has been waiting to hold Simon

The older kids had other priorities

Andrea's Birthday Present

2008-07-19T09:15:00.004-06:00

Simon has been discharged. He is ready to go. Hopefully Andrea will be discharged soon and this will be the last hospital blog post. The top picture is Simon taken minutes ago. The bottom is Andrea enjoying her birthday Krispy Kreme donut. Her real present is going home with Simon today. (I timed it that way 9 months ago to top last year's birthday present)

Not-the-momma

Simon James

2008-07-18T06:11:00.005-06:00

Simon James was born at 3.36PM on the 17th. He was 7 pounds 5 ounces. Both Simon and Andrea are doing well.

He's here!

2008-07-17T15:53:00.002-06:00

Baby boy is here... we will post his name later. Everything went beautifully... labor was actually much quicker than we expected.

Don't have a weight yet - they have just taken him to the nursery to do all that stuff.

He is beautiful!!!!!!!

Update at 1400

2008-07-17T13:21:00.003-06:00

It's a little after 2 p.m. I've had the pitocin in my system for about 4 hours now, and we are making progress. My right leg is WAY number than my left leg, a very odd sensation (due to the epidural). Currently my parents and our kids are here visiting with us.

Currently my prediction is baby around 5 p.m.

Did I mention that epidurals are great? I am having a contraction as I type this, but I don't have any pain... only pressure. I would have preferred to do natural labor, but induced labor is not a natural process so I decided not to attempt it.

Blogging from the hospital

2008-07-17T07:55:00.002-06:00

Well, now, isn't this fancy pants! We're admitted to the hospital, blogging from the room on our laptop using the hospital's Wi-Fi. The times, they are a-changin'.

Let's see what tubes are coming off my body so far:

1. IV
2. baby's heartrate monitor
3. contraction monitor
4. blood pressure cuff

I know we have at least 2 more tubes on the way. What fun!

Baby boy is doing some serious tango this morning... he must know something is going on. I have to fairly wince with just about every move he makes.

They'll be starting the pitocin (to induce contractions) here in a few minutes. Then, it's off to the races!

Updates will arrive as the situation allows.

Not long now....

2008-07-16T21:34:00.003-06:00

Well as you enjoy your morning coffee, Andrea are at the hospital. Wish us well.

This post was sent from the labor and delivery room. Lots of questions and lots of signing forms, for Andrea.

Not-the-momma

Four Limerick oysters

2008-07-16T21:16:00.005-06:00

While you are waiting for the youngest of member of the family. Try to memorize this. Trevor won a $10 card for being the only one of his group to complete it. When he said 'four limerick oysters' we thought he had mis-heard that line, but no that is really it. He must of gotten momma's memory.

In case you can't follow it, here is the grown up, Sponge Bob free version.

One hen , Two ducks, Three squawking geese, Four Limerick oysters, Five corpulent porpoises, Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers, Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array, Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt, Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth, Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time

Last Day - No Baby, maybe tomorrow

2008-07-16T18:31:00.004-06:00

No baby today though we did have a false alarm. Even Trevor is on strike today. Andrea was off strike and the house is as clean as....it is every other day, of course. :-) Now Andrea's parents are here for the blessed, and now scheduled event. Andrea and I are preparing for the early morning trip to the hospital. One last meal before a day of ice chips. Note: Internet frustrated dad. Not really me.
Not-the-momma

2 Days Left - No baby

2008-07-15T20:14:00.003-06:00

Yup, no baby again today. Andrea is on strike today. We will return tomorrow for our regularly scheduled....day. Note: Internet dog. Not really our dog.

Not-the-momma

Count Down 3 Days Left - Not much going on

2008-07-14T21:22:00.004-06:00

by Not-the-momma

OK I am ready now. Yesterday I was not. Today I am. Andrea has been ready for a couple of weeks. She is reading about about materinity accupressure. I am going to go have a talk with the boy. For now, nooooo baby. :-(

Cutest thing...

2008-07-13T13:00:00.003-06:00

Sometimes the blog gives you a reason to do what you know you need to. In this case, we needed to record Camille's ABC song. So cute.

Count Down 4 Days Left

2008-07-13T07:10:00.005-06:00

by Not the Momma

In four days (or less) we will be a family of five. It is still kind of surreal.

Camille's reaction to finding out that she will not get all momma's attention and that she will have to cry on daddy's shoulder too.

Trevor helped dad paint his new room!

Baby brother will even get a hand-me-down room.
It seems to be missing something. Hmmm.

A Brief History of Time

2008-07-11T07:54:00.002-06:00

Paul and I met when we were 29 and 28. We married about 2 ½ years later, and didn't want to wait long to start a family. I'm glad we didn't. In spring of 1999 we began trying and got pregnant the 2nd month. "Of course," I thought, "that's exactly what I expected." I had a relatively uneventful pregnancy and delivered Trevor at full term in November 1999.

When Trevor was 18 months old, in the summer of 2001, we decided to start trying again. I was pregnant the first month we tried. "Exactly as I planned," I smugly thought. The sonogram at 7 weeks showed a 6-week embryo with a heartbeat. I was concerned, but my OB assured us the difference was minimal at this point and the fact that we'd seen a heartbeat meant our chances of miscarriage were small. We went in 4 weeks later and there was no heartbeat; the baby had died 1 ½ weeks earlier. Due to some minor complications following the miscarriage, we didn't start trying again until January 2002.

I was confident we would be pregnant within 2 or 3 months. The months crept by with no pregnancy. In July of 2002, I hit two auspicious milestones: I turned 35, and we hit the 6-month mark for trying to conceive. I mentioned it to my OB that same month, and she ran a few nominal tests and told me to try 6 more months before considering treatment. Those 6 months went by and we found ourselves in January 2003 with 1 year of unsuccessful trying behind us.

We sought out an RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist, i.e., infertility specialist) and began seeing him. Over the course of the next 2 years, we did a variety of tests, cycles, surgeries, and "breaks" as we continued trying. We were never given a definitive diagnosis. The best he could tell us was that my body was not performing at optimum fertility. In November of 2004, our 7th and final treatment cycle and final attempt to get pregnant after 3 ½ years of trying, I became pregnant. 9 days later, the pregnancy was declared over. I felt defeated, dejected, and devastated. We had spent 3 ½ years and thousands upon thousands of dollars, and I was pregnant for a week. We were through trying, and threw in the towel. No more.

By that point, we'd spent the last several months exploring adoption, realizing it may be how we grew our family. So when we quit trying to get pregnant, we were ready to move on, and had chosen our path, Chinese adoption. In February 2005 we began the process to adopt from China. We were told at the time to expect an 8 to 13 month process, but it unexpectedly stretched out to 21 months. It was arduous and at times heartbreaking, as month after month drew on with no baby, but finally, in September 2006, we traveled to China and adopted our then 9-month-old daughter, Camille. Paul and I were 40 and 39 years old, respectively, when we finally brought home our 2nd child.

I turned 40 in the summer of 2007. In September 2007, we celebrated our 1-year anniversary of adopting Camille. We were 40 and 41 years old by this point, had our boy and our girl, our 2 kids, and felt after 6 ½ years, we had finally moved on from the endless years of family-building and could look forward to our future with a measure of confidence that we knew what to expect. We had lived in limbo since that summer of 2001, but no more. Our family was complete. Infertility was a sad memory at that point.

The week of Thanksgiving 2007, our children turned 8 and 2 years old (birthdays 2 days apart!). The day after Thanksgiving, my sister and mom wanted to go shopping all day. I woke up feeling terribly nauseous, but braved it and shopped all day. I hardly had any appetite. I found myself with that same nauseous feeling the next several days in a row. The fifth day in a row of this, I considered the facts: I was sick to my stomach and had no appetitie for 5 straight days, with no obvious signs of a virus. I got the idea in my head that I *might* be pregnant, and I couldn't get it out, so I ran out on a Tuesday morning at 9:30 to get a test. I laugh now that I bought the test and a pack of gum, as if I were fooling the check-out person with that pack of gum. "Oh, I was in the mood for some gum, and while I'm here, oh what the heck I'll buy a pregnancy test too." Delirium was already setting in.

I came home, took the test, and laid it down on the bathroom floor and left the room. I couldn't bear to watch it while it changed (or didn't change). I counted out to 60 three times, probably too fast, and went back into the bathroom with great trepidation. I picked up the test. I saw nothing. No lines at all. "Swell," I thought, "I bought a dud test." Then I realized I was holding it upside-down. Doh. I turned it over, and there they were: TWO. LINES. No squinting required.

My hands were shaking so much I could barely dial the phone to call Paul. "I started wondering what was going on, so I went and bought a test, and there are TWO LINES!" I screamed to him. "What do two lines mean?" he asked. I said, "I think I am pregnant!" He was SO EXCITED. I was SO FREAKED OUT. He left work, bought me roses, and came home. He agreed that no squinting was required, and it appeared that at age 40, after 6 ½ years, we were pregnant on our own.

I called my OB's office and they said to come in the next Monday for a sonogram and we'd have a better chance of seeing something, since we weren't sure how far along I was. The days between Tuesday and Monday crept by at a snail's pace, but it finally arrived. The last time I'd lay on that bed and had the sonogram, it was to be told that our baby had died. Paul held my hand. I looked straight ahead in terror. After a few seconds, the sonogram technician, the same one who had announced our miscarriage to us in 2001, said, "There's the heartbeat." I cannot even explain the emotions that flooded over me at that point. I was 40 years old, infertile, and I was pregnant and going to have a baby. To say it was surreal doesn't do it justice.

I am 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant as of today. This pregnancy has been blessed - complication free, very healthy for me and for the baby. He will be born by next Thursday, July 17, if he does not decide to make an appearance before then. We hope he comes a few days earlier, when he's ready. We'll keep you updated.

First Picture of Baby Oops

2008-07-09T20:38:00.006-06:00

Ok, it is not the first picture of baby Oops, but it is the coolest. It is a 37week 3D Sonogram. Technology is cool.

FYI in the lower end Microsoft Vista versions the lowly Paint can talk to your scanner. :-) That is good 'cause our old scanner software no workie.

- Not-the-momma