Holiday Madness Part 1

We spent the first two weeks in a Chicago suburb, making merry and just relaxing.  Jordan and esther were everyone's favorite people for those two weeks.  Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and parents all literally stood in line to hold jordan.  When they weren't holding him, they'd hang out with esther and get to know her.  I'm old news.

Christmas itself was a crazy barrage of gifts, people, music, eating and drinking, nothing new there.  For New Years Eve, on the other hand, i was in bed by about 9:30.  Having a 3-month old AND getting over jetlag will shut that whole "partying" thing down real quick-like.

It was interesting seeing my hometown through esther's eyes.  We were driving down the street and she saw some squirrels playing.  She got excited and i pulled over so she could watch them.  That just doesn't happen where she's from, and i hadn't realized the extent to which she had missed out on wildlife growing up.  I tried to remedy that with a trip to Brookfield Zoo with my Dad and another trip to the field museum downtown.  My own a pet shop, so we hung out there and played with snakes, birds and turtles. I held a tarantula.

Her other big takeaway was how spread out everything was, and yet still convenient.  It meant getting in your car anytime you wanted to go anywhere, but having a car meant that we could travel as far as needed to run errands.  Even in China when she had a car, you could still accomplish most of your basic errands with a 5 minute walk.

We also had our third and final wedding reception.  It was great to see all my extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as friends from all over, but it felt anti-climatic.  Nothing could ever have topped the uniqueness and excitement of the first one in Hangzhou, but it sure was fun trying.  And it gave esther and i another chance to look great in our wedding attire.  (Special thanks to my cousin Mark for all these photos!)

The best part of this reception was the timing, though.  During Christmas, my immediate family usually gathers for 36 hours, maximum, before everyone has to be off to somewhere else.  This year though, we were all together for 4 full days, which is the longest we've been together in probably 8 years.

In addition, Reid and Julia from Beijing came and a close college friend, Jordan, brought his family as well.  Between them, Jeff Orcutt (of Autobots, Deploy! fame), and Aaron and Nick Kurasz (my pet shop friends), i had friends from the last 20 years of my life in attendance.  So much love.

~Kev

Merry Christmas, Stateside

It's 6am, Christmas morning, and i'm the only one awake.  I just put Jordan to bed after his 5am feeding, and all is quiet.  There's no presents under the tree because, like many big families, we no longer celebrate Christmas on Christmas day.  My brothers and sisters are all off with in-laws, and we will get together on the 27th.

Jorkevstherdan (it's a work in progress) successfully made the trip to Chicago, a mostly uneventful 24 hour journey from Hangzhou.  I lost count at how many people tried to make me worry about the flight, warning that traveling with an infant would be a nightmare.  I never let myself give into the hype, though, and in retrospect, it was truly uneventful.  Part of that if due to Jordan's awesome personality.  Even at 10 weeks, i can tell he's going to be a cool, relaxed dude.  He smiles on cue, doesn't fuss, sleeps well, loves cuddling, and doesn't cry.  I've been keeping count; he's cried 5 times so far, and two of those were when he got vaccinations.  

United also made our trip much more bearable by providing a bassinet that attached to the bulkhead in front of us.  Basically, that made the whole "traveling with an infant" thing simple.  Now if they would only resume giving away free alcohol on international flights, they would continue to be my airline of choice.   

So we arrived in Chicago and immediately made a bee-line for Portillo's.  Obviously.  If you're from Chicago, you understand.

We've been hanging out with whatever local family i have, and getting ourselves onto the new time zone.  Having an infant adds a whole new wrinkle to that problem, but he's basically sleeping through the night now again, so even that problem is mostly behind us.  Now i just need to make myself sleep through the night.

We're spending two weeks in Chicago and two more in Colorado, with very few things actually planned.  We like it that way, and should make it easier to travel with the little man.

I'll leave you with an example of the English we find on baby stuff here.  This was on a diaper changing mat.   It's fantastic!  I mean, are they even trying?  Even with the minimum of effort, like if they copied straight from an online translator, it wouldn't be this bad.  Note: in the first line, "wanmei" means "perfect" in Chinese, so that's at least a decent attempt at Chinglish.  The rest is just madness.

Honestly, they must be slapping together a bunch of random words and letters, randomizing the capitalization and hoping no one can read it. Because, you know, having "English" on a product makes it worth more?

~Kev

Jordan Returns to Hanghzhou

With the month-long zuo yue zi behind us, the three of us moved back to our apartment in Hangzhou to fend for ourselves. Within a day we were comfortably set into a routine again. A typical day goes something like this:

Morning

• Mom wakes up around 7am, gets breakfast ready, feeds and hangs with Jordan, and pumps.
• Dad gets up around 9am, eats, and shares Jordan duties. Around 11, he starts getting lunch ready.
• Dad cooks, cleans the floors, dusts, and takes out the garbage.  Mom does everything else.

Afternoon

• After lunch, Dad hangs out with Jordan, and does parenting.  Mom pumps and takes a nap.  
• When Mom wakes up, she pumps and watches Jordan while Dad works out.  
• Dad does the dishes and prepares dinner.

Evening

• Mom and Dad high-five for a while, rejoicing in their awesome parenting skills.  They are in bed by 10pm.
• Jordan smiles, coos, and continues being an amazing baby.  He's in bed around 9pm.

Night

• Mom wakes up once to pump.
• Dad wakes up to feed and change Jordan, usually twice a night.

That got us through most of November.  Mid-month, we decided to try going out for dinner occasionally.  We had grown tired of cooking every night and longed for a little variety. Our first meal was at Mango Thai, and our maiden voyage was met with delicious consequences.  Pad Thai and Curries were our reward.  There were no incidents.  The next night we headed out to Zola Brick Oven Pizza and met some friends and their 4-year old.  Again, delicious success!

Being the newly mobile parents that we were, just having the freedom to head outside made us happier.  But mostly we've been staying in cuz it's cold and rainy.  To compensate, i'm cooking a larger variety of dishes.  Yesterday we had Chicken Fajitas with Guac and Spanish Rice. Today, Chicken Minestrone Soup... both came out awesomely.

 Which brings me to something i love about China.  When i'm going to cook, i walk out to the veggie market at our apartment and buy what looks good.  I buy exactly what i need and cook it all.  Shopping trips in the States required a grocery list, a car, and ten bags worth of stuff costing $200.  Here's what i bought today for Chicken Minestrone Soup.

All that cost me less than $3, including the chicken breast (which i bought at the supermarket and had frozen).  It was so fulfilling to turn all those fresh veggies into a delicious meal that would feed Esther and i for lunch and dinner.  If i remember correctly, a bag of pre-packaged baby spinach in a US supermarket costs about $2 by itself.

Air Piano

Jordan's Chinese Visa photo, or Obi Wan Kenobi impersonation?

~Kevsther and JNR