Belly Button Birthday

I'm always so glad when the ugly, stinky cord finally comes off and you can actually bathe your baby. Can I get an Amen! ??? I mean really, when they have a blowout sometimes a pansy little sponge bath just doesn't do the trick. This is Ander's first official bath and as you can see he was pretty chill about it, didn't cry until the very end when he was probably getting a little cold. And can we all look at my big, chubby, double chinned little boy and be proud of me please*?!

(*Author understands that in no way could her baby really be considered 'chubby' but as far as her babies go, this is pretty impressive.)

The other night we went to dinner at the best place Carrie showed me on our scooter tour around TianMu. It is called Sababa and it is all open air and this was such a beautiful, warm evening (my sweater is trying to make a liar out of me but I actually only have a few shirts that fit the chest 'er-eea' so I make do) and there was a nice cool breeze blowing through the restaurant, it was so fun. If you come to visit we will have to go here for sure, the ambiance alone is worth it. It's Mideastern Food, freshly made pitas that are to die for- and I'm not even a pita fan generally. They have other dishes too but so far we're lovin the pitas. And as ^ this picture just did to me, I am still having those Holy Smokes moments where I realize I am actually a mother of 4. Umm, who authorized this?

Getting Out A Bit

On Wednesday I over did it a bit but at least I enjoyed myself in the process! I went with two other girls to the Fabric Market and we took public transportation to get there so it took us a while to actually reach our destination. The Fabric Market is inside a big ol dirty building and there are different floors jam packed with row after row after row of hodge podge fabrics. I had a lot of fun looking at all of the different fabrics and the prices were pretty good too. I just got a couple of things for the projects that the kids are making each other for Christmas.

What will probably always stick out in my mind from this trip however, is the little adventure Ander and I took to the restroom when he blew out his diaper. By now I've dealt with many a blowout in Motherhood but this one has to be at the top of the Most Impressive Blowouts list. Seriously. There was literally nothing in the diaper, it was all in the leg of his outfit. In the grungiest bathroom ever there was only a slanting stainless steel slab coming out of the wall for me to change him on. With one hand I tried to clean off the slab with a disinfectant wipe while precariously holding a very soiled child with the other. All of the clean up had to be done with one hand as well since the slab was slanted and I couldn't let go of Ander. The whole scene was so absurd it was kind of amusing. Kind of. Anyway, I think I've learned you can never be too prepared here, BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything) seems to apply most places we go.

Our trip was cut short because I had to get to Mutual and by the end of the night I was absolutely exhausted and knew I had probably attempted too much. It is stressful going places and coordinating feedings etc. with a new babe, I had kind of forgotten all of that.

Yesterday I got my first ride on a scooter with Carrie- try not to panic Mom and Dad. She is the Bishop's wife and she is the coolest. Mother of 6 and Taiwan resident for 15 years- she knows her stuff. She reminds Nathan and I of a mix between Rosie and Tara which is fun. She took me on a 'drive about' to show me around TianMu and show me the Import stores, Dr.'s offices, good places to eat, where to get your hair cut, etc. We had an awesome time- plus I now understand why everyone drives scooters here. It's not even funny how convenient they are. Parking is a nightmare anywhere you go... that is unless you've got a scooter- then you can literally park anywhere, sidewalk, street, pretty much wherever. You get to go to the front of the line at red lights which is nice and the streets are so incredibly narrow for cars but we zipped in and out of them with no problem. It was glorious and I'm thinking I need one just to run errands. Don't start worrying yet though, riding with an experienced scooter driver and driving myself are two very different things. It was a really fun 3 hours and I feel like I know TianMu so much better now.

And finally we have this little guy. Overall he has been a great eater/sleeper and we've only had a few mornings where I've woken up feeling like a zombie. Something unique to Ander is his burps. I know, weird but seriously he has man burps. It is so strange to hear such a loud thing coming out of such a little guy. His siblings think it's fantastic and laugh their heads off when they hear him- right before they commence badgering me for who gets to hold him first. Between the children, Nathan and I it's a wonder he ever gets to lay down without being held. He doesn't seem to mind though.

We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend, they do it a week later because of the time difference. To watch it live we would have watched late Sunday night and Monday morning so they shift it to the following weekend and all of Taiwan will watch it together. Should be nice.

Rejecting Tradition

When it comes to post-partum there are a lot of Chinese traditions that go on. One is no cold anything- only warm water or tea to drink, warm food and clothes etc. It is traditional for the women to have one month of rest and usually their moms come to help take care of other responsibilities. They are not to wash their hair for 1 month, and they have special soups every day for 30 days as well. They are very serious about all of these things. Consequently I have been told all about them by many an Asian for instance when I was talking to a worker who came by, I was freshly showered though still sporting damp hair and bare feet, busted!

There is a really nice Taiwan guy who oversaw the workers who moved us in and then referred us to the carpenter who made us a bed (we brought our mattresses and figured we'd buy a frame here, however there are none that will fit our mattresses. They generally don't use box springs here, just a mattress so we were kind of stuck till this carpenter came along and whipped out a nice bed frame for us, turned out great).

Anyway, the nice guy came with when the carpenter delivered the bed and when he saw that Ander had been born he whipped out a traditional Red Envelope and insisted on giving our little babe his first hong bao- a sign of congratulations and good luck with the color red being to ward off evil spirits. He gave him 600 NT (about $20) but the 6 is important as they consider it a very lucky number. He insisted on giving it to Ander himself which was cute. (notice the Red Envelope in the pic above)

You may notice the pink seat Ander is in. Our dear friends gave it to us (they have two girls, hence the color) and though I planned on putting a blanket over the pink, after the way he rocked all that pink in the hospital I figured it wouldn't hurt for him to do it at home. He's always pretty content in the seat so I figure the pink ain't botherin him.
Now this second picture I feel super grossed out and equally guilty about. Our original realtor who we love and have become friends with here spent time and money to prepare some traditional soup for me. Blessedly she didn't make the other kind which has pig kidney in it, she figured that might be too much for my sensitive-to-all-things-Chinese palate. She figured right. However, this soup which is made with no water but some sort of alcohol as it's base (she says the alcohol cooks out, but I'm thinking, no wonder these Asian babies are so nice and sleepy their first month!) and then aged ginger, and boney chicken giblets and a few other things I couldn't understand. It was SO kind of her to make this for me, it is to help the mothers body heal and help with your milk supply (but so does water, I can't help but think) and it was just plain thoughtful. In spite of her generosity I could not bring myself to even try it. I know! I'm terrible right? I just couldn't do it! It smelled so strong and gross... I feel seriously guilty but I just couldn't do it. I'm not Chinese so they can't make me...right?

ZZZZZZZZZZZ...

You know what's not fair? That a week of pregnancy is not equal to a week in the life of a newborn. The former goes excruciatingly slow and the latter insanely fast. It is a sad reality. I've been doing my best to appreciate every moment with this sweet little guy, it's too hard to get them here to not ignore everything else for a little while and just snug. It's not been too hard as Ander has been sleeping like a champ as you can see.


Nathan found this big killer whale on clearance at a store called Carrefour (think Walmart meets a gas station or the dollar store). The kids have been loving it and I thought it was great too until the next morning when something big outside caught my eye and scared the crud outta me before I realized it was just Shamu floating harmlessly in the pool. The things I waste adrenaline on...
The children have been in the middle of the action since the moment we brought Ander home. No lie, when I nursed him the first time Kennedy's nose was about 4 inches away. First diaper change had all of the kids involved because it happened to be quite noisy and they all needed to see what was going on. They 'call' who gets to hold him first like my siblings and I used to call 'shot gun' so I think it's fair to say Ander has been welcomed into our home with open arms. Grateful doesn't begin to cover how I feel about having him here, but it's a good start.

Leading Up To...

Let me just disclaim now that I'm going to tell the whole story in detail, mainly because we are half a world away and there are lot's of grandparents, aunties and friends who would be getting the scoop in person if only that were possible. I am going to include more than I normally ever would both in writing and a pic or two because in this situation it is the easiest way. Every good story must have a disclaimer right?

Saturday night I was feeling pretty down and wondering how I could possibly go to church and face everyones pity filled looks and condolences/advice on how to kick start things. I was determined to go but not looking forward to it. Then at 12:30am Kohen comes up the stairs in the middle of an attack of the Croup. If I hadn't had an inhaler we would have been heading to the hospital as he was turning red and his lips were blue. After the episode and everything settled back down it hit me- someone had to stay home with our sick son, I selflessly volunteered.

Sunday I spent snuggled up with Kohen watching a movie. I thought the pic was cute, proof we are being influenced in Asia where everyone wears masks all of the time when sick. He showed up with his favorite stuffed seal wearing a mask made from his pirate eye patch. Clever boy. Sunday ended as labor-less as every other day.

Monday morning I woke with a start at 6 am to my water breaking. YES!!!!!!!! I was SO happy, proof positive I wasn't going to be pregnant forever! I jumped in the shower, humming to myself and cheery as could be. It wasn't long before I realized that though my water had broken there weren't any contractions suddenly happening... We took our time (6 hours) getting things gathered and kids ready -school was off Monday and Tuesday so we arranged a babysitter and dropped them off on our way to the hospital. That's where the weirdness began.

We arrived at what would be likened to what we call Triage in the states. Through hand gestures and simple English we tried to explain that the Dr. had told us to come in cuz my water had broken. Watching Nathan try to gesture 'water breaking'? priceless. The biggest difference was when they went to do a pelvic exam they whip out the Iodine and use it liberally. I experienced more Iodine on Monday than I have in my entire life, they were very generous with it each time. I was at 3cm, 30% effaced and the baby was a -3 station. Nothing impressive. No surprises.

We were shown to the one and only Labor and Delivery room and they left us alone to change. We both freaked out at first thinking the red on the chest of the gown was blood but thankfully it was just some symbol. Then we were just looking around and busting up in a kind of laugh or cry type of deal, at what a crazy situation we were in. Who woulda thought we'd be in a grimey Asian hospital having a baby?! If you dare you can enlarge the pics. PS.- I was still wearing shorts with the shot of me in the gown so I'm not quite as indecent as I may appear. No excuse for the pasty legs though.
Next the nurses came in ready to give me an IV with fluids, a shave and an enigma. I smiled and pointed to each thing and said "No. No. And No." They had the hardest time figuring out why I only wanted the IV line put in with a lock- I think it truly blew their mind that I wasn't getting an Epidural. They were nice about it all though.

Eventually Nathan went out and asked the nurses if we could go walk now as contractions weren't happening and the Dr. had already told me we could- there was a bit of an uproar from them with the best line being, "No! She's at a 3, the baby might come out!" Nathan insisted they call Dr.E and of course he confirmed it was fine. Then Nathan pushed his luck by joking that we wouldn't go too far, "just to the 101" -the skyscraper about a 20 min. drive away. There were shouts of "NO!" and "That's too far!" before he could explain to them he was joking.
So we went walking and I'd have contractions but I could walk and talk through them and when I stopped walking they nearly stopped as well. At 3pm Anna, the Doula showed up and we went walking laps again and this is when active labor finally started. It was weird though, they were never that consistent of contractions. Some would be extremely strong and I'd have to stop and breathe through, then the next one wouldn't be quite so bad. I was convinced I wasn't getting anywhere. When we stopped for a potty break Anna realized she had forgotten to tell us it is pretty much B.Y.O.E.- Bring Your Own Everything. You get a little TP and that's it. No paper towels for drying hands, no tissue, no disposable underwear etc. So she ran down to the little outdoor market that sells all the stuff that you'd need at the hospital and stocked up.

When she returned I was checked and making progress so we walked some more and by the time we went back to the room it wasn't long at all before I started transitioning and before I knew it there was the usual flurry of nurses (I always wonder, why the flurry? It's not like it's a surprise what we are there to do) and everyone was preparing for Ander's arrival.

L&D

Labor and Delivery are both so aptly named. There is no better word for what you must do to get that baby here, nor is there a better word for what happens to both Mom and baby when baby is born. In a previous conversation with Dr.E. Nathan had told him about how with Kohen and Aly our Dr. would deliver the head and then let Nathan do the rest and how cool it had been. He wasn't asking to the same here and hadn't expected anything so he was pretty surprised when Dr. E. showed up to deliver and pointed to a gown and told Nathan, "That's for you, you're gonna do this." Nathan was surprised and thrilled. Um, I was trying not to die at the moment so I wasn't paying that much attention. Very glad at this point to have Anna there, lol.

When the time came to deliver Ander, Dr. E. totally went into teaching mode and let Nathan do the entire delivery. I think it is incredibly cool now but in the moment I remember hearing the teaching going on and saying, "Please hurry!" thinking- two of us are extremely uncomfortable right now! But before I knew it Ander made his grand entrance into his father's arms. The cord was wrapped tightly around his neck twice so Dr. E. stepped in and undid the cord but otherwise it was a safe and completely natural delivery.

Dr. E. told us several times how Natural Births simply do not happen here, all the nurses had been really excited to see one, some nurses even peeked in the door to watch. Even Dr. E. had never delivered one completely natural until Ander. Everyone was giving me props and making me feel amazing. I did feel amazing.
Poor little guy, swollen face and nose make him look like he's been in the boxing ring

Proud, Proud Daddy

Dr. E, Nathan and the little man of the hour

Anna = The Best!

Little Ander chose a really great day to be born, he will share his birthday with his Auntie Natalie- if only I'd known that was what he was waiting for it would've been much easier to wait! It's really neat to think that both my mom and I went through the same huge life experience on the exact same day about 30 years apart (cue Circle of Life music). A special Happy Birth Day to both Natalie and Ander!!!!

Meet The Baby

For some reason Taiwan seems to think that the color pink shouts "BABY!" best. It was a little weird when they bought our strapping boy back to us that first night swaddled from head to toe in pink. I think Ander's workin it but still, the pink blankets had to go.
Life Test #1: Survived meeting 3 siblings

Kennedy is in heaven to finally have her new brother here and I can tell she's going to be a big help.
Kohen is equally excited though I fear he may experience some mild disappointment as he realizes what newborn babies are all about. Not quite up to everything Kohen has planned for the two of them I'm afraid. Yes, that's a mask of his own hanging from his ear, came in quite handy to try and keep the baby safe.
Please notice the pink piping on the little shirt they put on the babies. So becoming. This is a pic of Ander sucking his thumb. He really wants to be a thumb sucker but for me it is a question of convenience vs. control and so far I'm leaning towards control by using a pacifier what can I say.
I was having a 'mommy moment' as only a mother can have when her whole crew shows up in a small hospital room to meet their new sibling. It's always a little overwhelming because they are so excited to explore the baby but they are pulling toes apart, lifting eyelids and crawling all over the baby and I. I'm always super excited for them to come and about as equally excited for them to go, lol.

Introducing...

Ander Michael Jensen

Born September 21

8 lbs 2 oz

19 1/2 inches

*Details and more pics to come*

Super Sized Grasshopper

Can you believe the size of this hopper we found in our yard? They are huge! They are even bigger than the 'Mormon Crickets' you occasionally find in Idaho which is saying something is it not?
I was trying to help Kohen secure the big guy in the net while the girls looked on ready to bolt at a seconds notice. Through the net this guy kicked my hand and I was so shocked at how strong he was I kinda freaked out and almost peed my pants. Nathan was enjoying the whole show thoroughly.
The finale happened as Kohen was trying to tap the guy into his box and the hopper flew and landed on innocent bystander Kennedy's legs. Kennedy and Aly started screaming bloody murder and and Nathan and I scrambled to get the hopper off of her before someone called the cops on us. Kennedy actually cried she was so scared and so I took the girls away to comfort them and left Nathan to help Kohen with the critter.

Kennedy settled down and said, "I wish Caleb was here, he'd know what to do with that big thing!" Caleb is her cousin, you may remember the giant slug from a summer post??? She is right though, he is just the kid for the super sized critters around these parts.

Direct Quote

Nathan to Kohen after school:

Nathan: How was recess?

Kohen: Good, but the girls wouldn't stop chasing me.

Nathan: Did they catch ya?

Kohen: No, cuz I ran SO fast.

Nathan: Were the girls giggling while they chased you?

Kohen: No. They were merciless.

Pixar Exhibit

Tonight after a short FHE lesson on Talents we took the children to the Taipei Art Museum where they are celebrating Pixar's 20 Years of Animation. It was pretty neat and maybe Nathan and I will have to go back so we can read more, the kids moved through the exhibits fairly quickly.
There were really neat original sketches, models and storyboards all over. I got a few pics before the security guard told me "no pictures"- woops, that sign must've been in Chinese -and apparently doesn't apply if you're a local taking pictures of my 3 little ones.
They had videos playing that would show you how something was developed and also a giant screen with their digital shorts playing. The sketches were fun though because you could see how characters started out and evolved. Jessie from Toy Story 2 for instance, they had sketches of her with a skirt on and then eventually pants. Probably our favorite thing was something called a Zoetrope which is a bunch of figurines that they spin really fast in a circle and then a strobe light comes on and it tricks your mind into thinking the figurines are in motion. The kids laughed and laughed at this, it was pretty fascinating.
And last but not least we had our first beautiful sunset last night- this was taken from our front yard. It should be even better for you as you can enjoy it sans mosquito!

Coping

Most of the time I feel like I am coping pretty well over here. Then Nathan points out the insane amount of reading I've been doing in the month and a half we've been here. 9+ books, well over 4,000 pages read... gee, could it be possible I've been using books as an escape and coping mechanism? Better than some of the alternatives I guess. Of these books I'd say East of the Sun and Taking Liberties were my favorite. I found them both at Target before I left.....Target *whistful sigh*
While I'm on the subject- I thought I'd share my favorite bookmark, one I feel I am quite ingenious for thinking of if I do say so myself. Just a simple bobby pin. It works SO well. Always have one, doesn't damage the pages and never falls out. Love it. You are welcome.

So I think I am mostly doing a post so that everyone knows that the baby is still in my side rather than by my side. My due date is just a few days away and though most of the time I am fine tonight I am feeling rather uncomfortable and grumpy. Even ice cream didn't help. No woman has ever stayed pregnant forever but at the moment I feel certain I'll be the first one........I know, sounds like it's time for someone to stop counting days and start counting blessings...

Getting Settled

Slowly but surely we are getting settled. For several days there was no where to sit as we only brought our beds (Asian mattresses are typically very hard) and so it was such a treat on Saturday to get a couch and chairs for our kitchen table. I'll tell you what, draw a process out long enough and I'll be grateful for just about anything! It seems like we've had a steady stream of people in and out, internet, dishwasher, washer/dryer, Ikea, and on and on. What has impressed me the most is Nathan's Chinese. One of these workers will start speaking to me in Chinese and I will of course have zero idea what they are saying. Nathan will come in and there will be a bunch of rapid fire Chinese and pretty soon they are all in understanding...I'm still in the dark, lol. He is picking up more and more Chinese every day and I am grateful one of us can figure out what the heck is being said!
A few other things: Aly seems to be getting the hang of everyone's accents and is feeling much happier at school and nursery. Kennedy claims to dislike Mandarin class because it is "so hard"- but then proceeds to rip through numbers 1-10 after only 2 classes, Nathan couldn't have been more proud. And Kohen is also loving school as he is allowed to do projects to his hearts content. He comes home with all sorts of creations, having used gobs of supplies and his teachers are pleased as punch. Endless supplies, a bonus of private school? I'll take it. Anyway they all seem to be adjusting to the new house fairly well.

Kennedy started a round of colds last week, bless her heart. It has gone through everyone but Nathan and I seem to have had it the worst. Not totally surprising considering how much we've been working and how we've been getting less sleep than usual. I am hoping to feel better tomorrow, and also hoping Nathan doesn't get sick.

Random Observation: It is quite acceptable to belch here, no excuse me required. However, it is considered ghastly to pick your teeth without first covering your mouth with one hand and picking discreetly behind it with your other. Curious.

Last but not least, we got the De-humidifier's going, one for each of 3 levels. They fill up usually 2/3rds through the day. Check out how much water is getting pulled out of the air from just one de-humidifier:

The Big Move & Our Families Newest Addition

Oh how I wish my short blogging hiatus had more to do with our families newest members but alas no such luck- and I have not had the baby yet. I'll get to our mini additions in a moment. But first, we are moved in! Certainly not settled but our belongings are all here, somewhere. The night before the movers came we came over to the house and went for our first swim. I have been longing to get in a nice cool pool since we've been here but I waited until we got access to our pool so I wouldn't have to worry about everyone staring at my swollen westerner body. It was worth the wait, SO wonderful! Love how you can't feel a pound of baby when you're submerged in water. Everyone enjoyed the swim.

We live up this extremely steep and narrow hill and the movers had to fill a bunch of smaller trucks from the bigger truck with our things. A whole crew of Phillipino men did the hard labor and then helped us to unpack many of the boxes. I swear two of them were assigned to follow me around and make sure I didn't lift anything which was actually very sweet. But then I felt kind of dumb as they were trying to help me unpack boxes and I'd have to stop in the middle of a box and say, "I have no idea where this should go, we'll have to come back to it." There are very few closets or garages to be found in Taiwan and although this house isn't as old as some it still is lacking heavily in the storage department. It's going to take some time and creativity to find a place for everything.

Last night was our first night in the house and we discovered a problem we had already suspected. The house is big. There aren't many choices, especially at the time we came house hunting, you either have an apartment or a large house. We tried to rent one that was a bit smaller but would have fit our needs just fine but the owners were insane and wanted us to pay their taxes which is absurd and an agreement couldn't be made (though they called our realtor 2 months later and said they thought they'd made a mistake, DUH!). In the end this house was the only other option and we are very pleased with how great the landlord is and the proximity to school etc.

This house is 3 stories and a lot of wide open space. As is standard each room has it's own AC unit . I hesitate to put details of where everyone sleeps on the blog so I will just say that it is a weird configuration of rooms and we are not on the same level as the children. Due to the AC blowing in each room we can hear next to nothing. I'm thinking I'm going to have to have a baby monitor in each of the kid's rooms just for peace of mind, unless anyone has any other suggestions.
Also customary in Taiwan is to work with 2-4 realtors at once, which really was odd to me when we were house hunting. We trusted and loved our first realtor Fiona and are friends with her still but the lady who insisted we just see this house only she had access to, named Jane, seemed to sneak in at the last second and now we are left working through her on house issues. She is fine and a hard worker but the bottom line is that Nathan and I don't really trust her. In example, we've become friends with the tenants previously living in our house. Angelica was going to surprise our children with a turtle for the little Koi pond we now have. Jane gets wind of this and shows up yesterday with two adorable little pet turtles. She didn't even ask Nathan or I first and she definitely stole Angelica's thunder. Jane rubs me the wrong way. Now let's look at how ADORABLE these little turtles are :)
There is a bigger one cleverly named "Master Uguay" by Kennedy -after the turtle on Kung Fu Panda, and then the littler one named "Speedy" because I think I'm funny. Kohen and Kennedy were ecstatic and truth be told I pretty much love the little cuties- I actually had two little turtles just like this for a while growing up. I wonder if we can keep them alive for any length of time...
Though there no signs of imminent labor for me as of yet- I am satisfied at how our family has expanded with Master Uguay and Speedy. You all should really come over and meet them :)

Until then wish us luck getting this place settled and send our little guy encouragement to not procrastinate the day of his arrival- there is nothing wrong with being a little early. With all that needs to still be done I suppose I could really use this last week and a half- though take just a moment to visualize what a 10 month pregnant woman moving into and unpacking a house looks like. It ain't pretty but I'm getting the job done!