"I'm a big boy!"

Hey all! I hope your week has been great so far! We have had a pretty good week. It's been kinda warm here. Most days it's in the 90's with 100% humidity. So with the heat index it's been over 100. I know it's been even hotter for the folks in Alabama! But we are surviving. I bet you Michigan folks are melting just thinking about it!!! ;-)

I took the boys swimming at the athletic club on Tuesday evening. That was quite an event. I thought since Gabe was starting swimming lessons next week it would be a good idea to have him in the pool at least once before lessons start. Especially since he usually won't leave the steps. The lessons will take place in the kids pool which is about 2 1/2 feet deep. It took almost an hour of coaxing but, Gabe finally left the edge to discover he could stand up and keep his head above the water. "I'm a big boy, I'm a big boy!!!" He yelled as he began to jump around. Only to jump so much that he lost his footing and slipped under the water. So, a half hour later, after sitting on the edge wimpering, he finally ventured out again. "I'm a big boy again Mom," he whispered as he stood totally still, lest he slip under again. Though it was slow going, the event was really a milestone for Gabe. He is very excited about his "swimming school" (as he calls it) starting. Hopefully he'll still feel that way next week.

Several of you commented on our white furniture via blog posts and e-mail. For some reason, we were able to pick all of the furniture for the apartment except that so, white is what they gave us. By that first night, it had a chocolate pudding stain the size of a cantelope, some cheese ground in, and a smear of strawberry jelly on it. And it's not like I was letting the boys use the furniture as plates or anything. It just got there somehow. Needless to say, I knew white wasn't going to work. Our Ayi (pronounced I-E) Chen, had one of her friends, a seamstress, come over and measure the furniture. I ordered the fabric online with the help of my friend Wei, and before I knew it....slipcovers! Would you believe the labor cost to make one large sofa slipcover and two oversized chair slipcovers was only $30!?! It may not be a big deal to those of you that don't know much about that kind of thing but, let me just say that I was in disbelief when they told me it was only $30 for three custom made slipcovers. Here are a few pictures of the new look.






They have allready proved to be a great purchase. Maddox threw-up yougrt all over a chair this morning. All I had to do was pull it off and throw it in the wash. It was AWESOME! Not the throw-up, just how easy it was to clean up. :-)

Thumb sucking, a smelly man & and a sarcastic husband

I hope y'all are all doing well. I know it's been awhile since I have posted anything. Time really seems to be going by so quickly here. I think that's a good sign...right? I keep meaning to go online and post, I just get busy I guess.

Anyway, I don't really have anything amazing to say. We have not had any out of this world experiences lately. We have just been "normal". Which I KNOW is a good thing. The boys have totally settled in. They have a routine. They have made friends. They feel comfortable here. Gabe is even starting to naturally substitute Chinese words in place of English words when he can. For that matter, so is Maddox. Gabe will start swimming lessons next week. It will be interesting to see how that goes. He likes the water lots; he just always likes it from the steps. The class is for 4 year olds and up so he's going to be the youngest one there. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully by the tenth (and final) class he will have at least ventured off the steps!!!

The whole language barrier is really frustrating sometimes. It can also be, well, let me just tell y'all what happened. We were taking the subway (one of the boys favorite things to do) to Best Buy yesterday when the incident occurred. When were in the middle of the herd of people trying to crush themselves onto the subway car, a local man saw Gabe sucking his thumb so he reached up and pulled it out. While this happens to Gabe a lot, I don't think it's something he'll ever get used to or like. (I wouldn't either.) Anyway, his reaction yesterday was to move quickly away from this man as he said, "NO...NO...NO. Don't touch me......PLEASE!!!!" He was obviously upset. I was trying to tell Gabe everything was ok when the Chinese man tapped me on the shoulder, pointed to Gabe and said, "He....um...is...ah....offensive." OFFENSIVE!?! At this point my incredibly sarcastic husband turned to the man and exclaimed, "Well nobody's making you look at him, are they?" While I was bouncing between anger at the Chinese man and frustration at Michael for thinking that sarcasm was the way to handle this situation, the man then said, "He.....um....is.....ah......very aggressive." AGGRESSIVE!?! The kid was just reacting to you, a strange smelling man he doesn't know, invading his personal space by grabbing his hand and pulling his thumb out of his mouth! I am his mother for goodness sake. If I didn't want his thumb in his mouth I would take care of it myself. So Michael is standing there glaring at the man, Gabe is finally starting to calm down, and I am wondering how to handle the situation when the guy smiles huge and says, "I...um...little speak English. You...um...from...um....U.S.?" WHAT!?! Someone should really tell this guy not to talk, at least not in a language he doesn't understand! Michael was looking like he was about to throw down with this guy so I, the calm, cool, and collective person that I am said, "Let's assume that he doesn't know what he's saying ok? Just forget it." My point is that the whole language thing makes for lots of interesting experiences. Some funny, some frustrating, some kinda upsetting. If anything though, it makes we want to learn Chinese faster.

Well, I'm gonna run for now. We are going to the playground. The curly slide is my favorite...

Apartment 401, Block 13

Here are some pictures of our new dwelling place. I know pictures don't always do things justice, but hopefully this will give you an idea of where we are living. Have a great weekend y'all!

KITCHEN



DINING/LIVING ROOM





GABE'S ROOM



MADDOX'S BEDROOM




GABE & MADDOX BATH


GUEST BEDROOM



MASTER BEDROOM


MASTER BATH


This is the play area located in the middle of the 6 buildings that make up our "complex." This picture was taken from the balcony off Gabe's room.


This picture was taken from the balcony off the guest room. On left (the building with the 4 colored banners) is the grocery store called Carrefour. On the right (the building with the green & red letters on top) is a shopping center & fitness club. In the shopping center is the western grocery store, Starbucks, sporting goods store, and many great restaurants. We spend a good deal of time over there.

Hope this works!

Hey all! I know it's been a really, really long time. We have not been able to get our internet working at the apartment until today. But it finally is so....

I know I have a lot of catching up to do. And hopefully I will soon. But there is another problem. China has decided to block me from full access to my blogging site. So I can't really do much. I cannot post pictures anything. But as soon as I can I will.

I just wanted you all to know that we are doing well. Work is really crazy for Michael right now but he's happy. The boys and I are making friends here in the area and that had been such a blessing! I hope all of y'all are doing good! Bye for now.....