Ander's 1st Trip to the U.S.

Just a few short days ago Ander made his first trip to America ^. With all of the sickness going around I was pretty obsessive vigilant about germ fighting during our long hours of travel. I wore a mask most of the time, kept his car seat covered with a blanket and used antibacterial wipes on stroller handles and other high use areas. Ander did as well as can be expected for a little one and other than having to stand with him for an hour until my arm was about ready to fall off, he was a peach.

What's the first thing I did when we landed in a U.S. airport you may ask? Buy some decent gum.
We arrived in Boise SO excited to meet family. The grandparents all fawned over him and snuggled him up, that alone made the trip worth while.
As far as jetlag goes, it took Ander the better part of the first week to flip his schedule but we managed. I find you can really put up with a lot when you only have one child to deal with. Such information might have been helpful about, mmm, 3 kids ago.
One morning Ander and I met up with his Aunt Tara and new cousin London Sophia (she's 1 month younger than him) at Gpa Norm's work at Well's Fargo to let him show off his newest grandbabies. These two babies make #'s 19 and 20 for Bonnie and Norm. Norm also validated me when after carrying Ander around the office for a while he handed him off cuz his arm was pooped out. This kid is heavy!
Papa John was working nights half of the time we were there so he and Ander were on similar crummy sleep schedules.
Getting to meet his Great Grandma and Grandpa Cheney was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. There is something special when you see gaps of generations close in one simple meeting.
Funny story. My BIL Shayn was playing with Ander- he had him smiling, cooing and doing squats as Ander would stand until he couldn't anymore then he would sit down on his legs. Did I mention Ander hadn't pooed in a week? Yeah. And it turns out helping a baby do squats for 10 minutes also helps them do something else. He slimed Shayn good- he actually required a shower. But Shayner is a good sport and didn't miss a beat hanging out with his new nephew every time he got the chance. As you can see below, he even found the magic position to settle down the little guy with a combination football hold slash covering his face - two of his favorite things.

Little London and Ander out to lunch with their grandpa and grandma- they slept like babies...imagine that.
Aunt Natalie even flew in from out of town to meet this little guy. She and Ashley watched the babe one morning and they sent me off for a massage where I discovered it had been WAY too long since I had had one. I mean seriously, when I am ready to have the masseuse written into our Will after only 15 minutes, I think it speaks to how much I enjoyed and needed it. Thanks Seeesters.
This is some of the classic nonsense that endears my children to their Aunties. Here are Ashley and Natalie singing "Ring of Fire" to a much entertained Ander.
My little sister Ashley has an eye for decorating and could literally be a professional bargain shopper. I stink at decorating and shopping anywhere but Target and even then when it comes to clothes I often fail. But Ash knows how to work stores like Ross and Marshalls (places I literally avoid like the plague) and I would arrive to find her with a cart full of clothes all ready for me to try on. I can't even think of the words to write for how grateful I am to her for doing my least favorite part of shopping for me.

My little brother came into town from college both weekends which was great and I also got to spend an evening out with my SILs and MIL which went by way too quickly. One of the things I miss most about living near by is all of the sharing, advice and encouragement I get from these girls. I did also get to go watch favorite tv shows at my SIL's house a few nights, it was just so fun and such a treat to have the freedom to go when and where I wanted to.

Anyway, I know this post is just a bunch of pictures of family members holding Ander but the fact is, if we'd lived in the states you would have seen these pics spread out over the first few days and weeks of his life, instead we packed it all into one trip. Ander did see the Dr. and all is well, details in a post to come.

Okay, I give.

I finally changed the name of the blog. Don't worry though, I will not be changing the actual address- not that you ever look at the address anymore since it's obviously in your 'favorites' anyway, right? right? I started thinking about what to change it to pretty much the minute I saw the second line on that fateful stick and knew we would soon be tucking in more than three.

For a time I thought I could get by on a technicality. Certainly we consider Kenna able to tuck herself in and we just kiss her goodnight, but that seemed like a bit of a mouthful as far as titles go. Then I ran a preliminary title by Nathan. He loved it and promptly started telling people without my express written consent and my BIL Mike immediately shut it down saying it wasn't up to par. Ouch. Sometimes the truth hurts.

I kept at it and after gathering courage I previewed the new one to a select few and the response has been positive. I would like to disclaim that you can only write a title in caps which takes away from the 'four', people might just think I don't spell check but oh well. I bet you never knew someone who took so much time dithering over a silly title. Now after all this palaver if you don't like the change, please lie.

Speaking of adventures, Nathan found this restaurant that is completely decked out in dinosaur bones and he was really excited to take the kids. One night we had to make an unexpected trip downtown after Ander's resident card came to us with his name misspelled mere days before we were to leave for the states- so since we were near we stopped by for dinner.
The place is thoroughly decorated with no detail overlooked. Claws hang from the ceiling holding the lighting, bridges over water with Koi swimming around below and huge pretend fossils everywhere you look. Even the table and chairs go with the theme.
The kids thought it was fantastic- especially the part where like most places here there is no attention paid to safety of things that would certainly result in a lawsuit in the states. Like the bridge below where some of the 'rib' bones that were supposed to keep my kids from falling in the water had broken and left even bigger gaping holes giving you a clear path into the water. Maybe they just don't have the money to fix it. That is plausible since we were literally the only patrons that evening. And maybe that is because their menu leaves something to be desired. And by 'something' I mean everything.
But the ambiance was definitely unique and fun once you forget the danger lurking at every turn for 3 curious little ones. They had a fun time exploring and even dancing to their hearts content since there was no one else around to disturb. Overall the place gets a thumbs up, though I think if they served pizza they would've won me over completely.

Toroko Marathon

(This time Nathan really is in the picture, right smack in the middle.)

Here I sit in Boise Idaho while Nathan is taking care of 3/4 ths of our children back in Taiwan. Doing both his daughters hair every morning before getting all three off to school and doing the daily routine by himself on top of his regular work may be even more difficult than the marathon he just ran. I still wish so badly I could have been there. Then again maybe not, seeing as Nathan was dripping with sweat before he even started the race. That's not my idea of fun, the sweating or the 26.2 miles.
The above picture tests my post-baby bladder control. Nathan and Adam spotted this gem walking by with his homemade anti-chaffing remedy. The boys brilliantly came up with the plan to have Adam walk by the guy and have Nathan pretend to be taking a picture of Adam but of course get them both. The look on Adam's face cracks us up, I don't think I could keep a straight face next to that guy either.
I love this picture. How beautiful is Toroko Gorge? And look at all of those people. What an awesome shot.
Several friends and their families also went down and ran I think it was a 5k and a half marathon. Nathan was the only one who did the full marathon and I was so grateful they all stayed to cheer him across the finish line. It started pouring while they waited and Reid ^ figured out an ingenious way to stay dry. That my friends, is what we call problem solving.

(Creative Cone Usage #2 ^ )

Here he comes! This was Nathan's most difficult race to date. About half of it was up hill and towards the middle he started to cramp up and was forced to slow down at some points. He kept on though, and finished- where as I might have caught a taxi and just gone home. Truly he did awesome and he is looking forward to beating his time next year. I am certain he will since he hardly trained for this race at all (due to our recent crazy lives) and I am sure that alone will help improve his experience for next time.
This is the whole gang- they all did great. I am hoping next year to be able to experience it for myself. And we are going to have to go back and explore the Toroko gorge, it looks stunning. And Nathan, you did awesome.

Quick Post

I am sitting in the Narita Japan Airport with Ander about to board our flight to LA then Boise. SOOOO excited! We are coming to have Ander's breathing looked at (He retracts when he breathes, has since a few days after birth) and to let him meet his Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and cousins. I will post again soon I am sure, as soon as the jet lag wears off.

Hopefully your Halloween candy is finally dwindling down, I know I look forward to that. I froze our tons of left over bite size Snickers as I was the only one snarfing them. Turns out frozen Snickers are really good too. dang it!

Love this gem from Kennedy:

She walks into the kitchen holding a little Hershey bar and says, "Look Mom! This is half healthy- It says Milk chocolate!"

A Warm Up

A week or so ago Nathan got up insanely early (I only get up that early when a little baby's nourishment depends on it and I can go back to sleep) to go and run Nike Human Race in Taipei. Nathan ran the 10k and rocked it as usual. However, he did commit "Spouse of a Blogger" Offense numero uno: No camera. No camera = no pictures = lame post. So since Nathan is a wise and clever husband he managed to find a picture of the crowds of runners at the starting line. He had described it as "a sea of people all wearing red, SO COOL!" And now we even have the picture to back it up. You can actually see Nathan about half way up the picture to the left!

Okay, that's a lie. You can't see him.

Anyway, tomorrow morning (your Fri. night) Nathans going to go and run the Toroko Marathon and unfortunately I won't be able to go and cheer him on. I was hoping this post might elicit some well wishes for him since he'll be on his own which is a bummer. Nathan promises to run with a camera this time because the Toroko gorge is breathtaking and because he's a quick learner. Good luck babe!!!

The Halloween Gauntlet

5 Halloween parties in less than 36 hours = lot's of fun... and one exhausted Erin. Our Friday started early getting Kohen and Kenna off to school. While Nathan took them I frantically got ready (which means my teeth were brushed and I got concealer under my eyes) fed the baby and got Princess Aly ready for her Halloween party at school. As soon as Nathan got back we were off.
Aly's preschool put on quite the bash with projects, carnival games, a LAME-O "clown", trick-or-treating and prizes. Aly won for best costume in her class, I didn't even know there was a competition...

The picture is Aly with her little friend Lizzy. The girls are quite a bit alike, their birthdays are just a couple of days apart. When they are playing together I regularly can't tell whose voice is whose which is saying something since a Mom knows the sound of her child's voice...usually.
Next we race over to TAS and into Kohen's Halloween festivities. Again lot's of projects and games. I got Kohen's costume on clearance last year. He doesn't know what a Power Ranger is so he was a self proclaimed "Super Hero" and went around kicking the air, tumbling on the floor and whacking unsuspecting passerby's all day. Pretty much his best day ever.
It was almost time to go help Kennedy get her costume on when I realized... I forgot her costume at home in our haste to leave. Crud. I grab the car keys and Aly and leave the babe with Nathan and Kohen and race out to the car and speed home. It wasn't until I pulled up to our house that I realized I had neglected to bring the keys to open the gate to our home. There is no penetrating the fortress without the keys (#@!!*%). I raced back to the school, parked illegally, threw Aly on my hip and ran clear back inside. Got the keys (#@!!*%) and headed home a second time.

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there I take Aly to the bathroom and her shoe ended up in the toilet. Yeah, we both went to flush with our foot and I knocked her little heel off and right into the pot. Perfect. Anyway, I made it to Kennedy's class with a few minutes to spare. She was excited we were there so she could show us her face painting. After her parade we all raced (I keep using the same verb not to annoy but because it's literally what we did all day) home to get ready for a party for adults at our house.
The next several hours were spent neglecting our sugar-high children as we tried to finish the house, food and costumes (I was Facebook and Nathan was one of Taiwans dummy flaggers, one of my favorite things here). I was co-hosting with two other gals and the party turned out awesome. I haven't laughed so hard in a while which was a nice change.
Check out Kenna's hair for the Sat. Ward party. I don't think anyone noticed cuz she wore that tiara but I was really proud of it at any rate.
A picture of my trio of trouble on Saturday. As you can see Aly switched costumes to be a Witch this party. The girl likes to keep it fresh.
Here's a picture of the fam before the kids scattered like cockroaches when the lights turn on. There were so many games to play and treats to try, it was quite the production. You can't really tell in this picture but Ander was Nathan and I's dwarf. He switched all night from being 'Sleepy', to 'Grumpy', to 'Hungry' (the elusive 8th dwarf) and then 'Happy' again. When Kennedy found out I was going to be Snow White the first thing she asked me: "Are you going to wear a wig?" Hmph. The hair's the one thing I got!!

Anyway, there was even a trunk-or-treat at the end and after that we went up the mountain to a neighborhood that has quite a few ex-pats and where some real trick-or-treating goes on. It's only a street or two but it was just enough to let the kids feel like they got an authentic Halloween experience.

Think how exhausted you are from just reading this post... it was insane but really fun.

Trick or Treat Smell My Feet

First of all, many of you were worried when you saw Yoshi's comment that random people were stalking my blog. As much as I like to believe the whole world is interested in my daily dronings, darn it, it just isn't so. Yoshi is an old friend of Nathan's from when Nathan worked for his Uncle and they had a Taiwan Business Partner. Yoshi has secured a spot on my list of favorite people for sharing the place where a can of DP might be found in Taiwan. And thanks to those who were just looking out for us, cyberspace can be scary and don't hesitate to mention to me if you think something creepy is going on. It's good to know you've got our back.

Speaking of creepy, it's Halloween time!!! You don't even know how excited my kiddies were to get a little package in the mail full of goodies from Pixie and Papa John. Halloween isn't a holiday really celebrated in Taiwan, though I guess it's gained more popularity over the years from the Westerners influence and their schools celebrating it. I have noticed several stores sportin' a Halloween decoration or two which is fun to see. Those occasional decorations are literally the only sign that fall is here.
The socks especially have been a hit- Kohen even insisted on sleeping with his under his pillow that first night. The children love playing with the fake spiders and bats though Nathan and I recently swiped a couple of the spiders. You see, a ginormous spider dropped from the ceiling with a literal 'thud' the other day and after that traumatic event (traumatic for Nathan, I didn't see it and therefore am taking an extended leave in Denial) I left one of the fake spiders on his computer for him to find -hopefully with a high pitched girlish scream- and thus started the back and forth game of trying to scare each other with fake spiders. I'd say it's a bit like Russian Roulette though because it's only a matter of time before what I think is a fake spider turns out to be a real one...
Last but not least, at 5 weeks Ander is working on holding his head up, smiling and cooing. I strongly discourage all of it and plead with him to stay a newborn just a little while longer. The other night Nathan had the 3 older children laughing because he figured out a way to make Ander break into these big ol grins. What the babe costs in diapers he makes up for in sheer entertainment.

So, according to my standards Ander is huge. Yesterday I had to squeeze him into a 0-3 month Onesie. I'm thinking I'll put one on him for Halloween and he can go as a sausage.

International Food Fair

On Saturday we headed out to the Annual International Food Fair that is held at TAS (Taipei American School). It was raining off and on- mostly on- and the Fair is both inside and outside so we checked things inside first. We tried some sort of Australian dessert that was sponge cake rolled in chocolate syrup and then in coconut. I was doubtful but upon tasting it, convinced. It was really yummy. There were a bunch of countries represented and so it was fun to just browse.
We headed outside on our hunt for food and it was raining pretty good, but we had dressed the kids in raincoats and boots. Funny thing about rain coats, you have to actually wear them for them to work. Just fyi. But we were getting dripped on even under the tents where we ate so it wasn't too much of a stretch for Aly and Kohen to get soaked. At least it was a warm rain and they had fun.
I don't feel like the pictures are going to do Aly and Kohen justice for how soaked they were but Aly was wet through and through, dripping actually. In true Kennedy fashion she managed to only got her jeans a little bit wet when splashing.

In case your wondering the kids chose hot dogs and pizza for their lunch. The hot dogs were real beef which is a treat over here. Nathan had Korean beef and I had Taiwan noodles, very simple and good- as well as some sort of french sandwich in a baguette. I had dreams of finding a Dr. Pepper but no such luck.
They had all sorts of carnivals games set up, we let the children do this fishing one before we left. I think they would have sat their all day catching creatures. I do wish it wouldn't have been raining so much because I feel like there was a lot that we didn't get to see or do but then again there would have been twice as many people which is hard to imagine. No worries cuz there's always next year.

Kennedy's 7th Birthday

Kennedy's 7th Birthday was a great one. She had really been looking forward to showing off her baby brother to her class when we brought in cupcakes for her birthday, that was an easy request to fill. Check!

And yes, I find it ironic that Kennedy is one of the only Western kids in her class and she attends an "American" school. But thats a rant for another day...
Kenna's swimming section for P.E. started on her birthday as well and so her school day pretty much couldn't have been better. She was extremely excited to swim at school.
The one thing Kenna really wanted to do was to go back to Yu Kids Island and so after school that is where we headed. Nathan and I watched the kids play and totally wear themselves out for about an hour. With Nathan's help Aly figured out how to ride the coconuts rather than get pummeled by them. I might have been bitter he ended such a great source of entertainment.
I was making Kennedy's pinata and Nathan, trying to help, set the still damp balloon covered in paper mache' outside to speed the drying process. It wasn't a particularly hot day but apparently hot enough because the balloon inside expanded and literally exploded the whole thing. Thus the scramble started to come up with another pinata. I ended up wrapping a box like a present for the pinata and put it with the rest of her presents. She was surprised because she had seen the mangled pinata and had been bummed out and didn't suspect the camouflaged present pinata.
I could say the obvious, "feels like only yesterday" and "I can't believe she's already 7" but if you are a parent you already know how you feel each year on your child's birthday. Your heart is full and simultaneously heavy. Mostly full though.

Kennedy has many qualities that I admire, not the least of which is her ability to bounce awake at dawn's early light, casting off the remnants of sleep in the blink of her wide awake eyes. Maybe it's my lack of bounce in the morning these days that makes me think of this one.

She is also very thoughtful. A quick example: a girl in her class has a severe peanut allergy (Asia would be a scary place to have one I have to say) and so this little girl can't eat treats brought in so Kennedy wrote her a note and gave her a sheet of stickers instead.

She is a great big sister, always willing to read stories to her siblings- and a daughter that a mom and dad couldn't be more proud to have. Happy 7th Birthday Kennedy Jolee!

Workin On some "Blue Steel" Of Our Own

Children's Modeling is big business in Asia. They especially love the Westerners. We had some previous knowledge about this biz from some of Nathan's cousins who modeled overseas when they were little and their experience had been quite positive. I thought we'd eventually look into it when we moved here but I was in no hurry. The second week we were in Taiwan a friend from Church here forwarded an email from an agent desperately looking for a certain height of child for a photo shoot. Long story short that's how we kind of fell into trying out catalog modeling in Taiwan.

I took Aly to the shoot which was really kind of cool, it was a legit photo shoot (meaning the set was set up like what I'd seen that one time I watched ANTM) and they would show me pictures on the computer after they took them and they did a good job getting shots out of a 3 year old.

I am not sure how much of this Aly will do at her age. She really loved it but I don't know if she consistently would so we will play it by ear. Kennedy on the other hand is the perfect age. She was beyond excited when she got her first job, could hardly sleep the night before. We won't get her catalog until spring but Nathan was able to take some pics without the flash for me.

First you go to hair and make-up. I don't know if you can tell but Kenna is so excited ^she is biting her cheeks to keep from smiling.
Nathan said they were almost done with her hair before the message came through that they would be wearing wigs. The photo shoot was for a Betty Boop line and so these wigs are supposed to look like Betty Boop? Okay, maybe Betty Boop after a wild night of partying...

(Rachel, do I even need to say what these wigs remind us of? Hit the deck!)
This line was super heavy on the accessories which was fun for Kennedy, and I personally thought the shoes were all really cute.
Kennedy loved spending the day with Nathan and getting her hair and make-up done like a princess just to take pictures. They told Nathan she did awesome (parent-pride-o-meter shoots off charts) and would tell her to just keep doing what she was doing as they had to help the other little girls with poses and stuff. I am sure it's all the pics she's been forced to take for her blog obsessed mom that has improved her posing abilities. Not that every pic on my blog isn't 100% candid *blush*.

She and this little girl had a great time together, Nathan taught them how to play Paper, Scissors, Rock and they would play this during any down time.
When they got home it was clear Kenna had taken up permanent residence on cloud 9. It was only a little while later that we got a call asking if she could come back in, apparently one of the little girls didn't fit all of her outfits and now they were frantically trying to get the shoot done. So Nathan and Kenna hopped back in the car and went back to do a bit more. Nathan said it was just Kenna and they were throwing outfits on and off of her as fast as they could. They were really grateful that Kenna came back. Our friend whose kids have done tons of this (many ex-pats have at least tried it) said she'd never heard of someone getting called to come back in so I guess they really must've been in a pinch.
The big hub for modeling is Japan, you get paid a lot more there to do this. But Kennedy made nearly $200 U.S. for the shoot which will largely go into her college fund. I think I'd be fine with Kennedy doing a shoot every once in a while as long as she finds it as fun as she did this time.

As far as Aly goes, we just got her catalog- it is so professional. This Monnalisa line is a really high end Italian brand, the clothes were very cute and well made. The catalog is really nice, the pages are made of thick card stock. We couldn't scan them without ruining the binding so we took pictures of the pictures, but still, you get the idea.

Therapy

What? like we didn't all know my children would end up in therapy. Granted, 3 is a little younger than I had anticipated but Aly had her first Speech Therapy session last night and it went really well. Except for the part when the therapist told me that not only does Aly need to slow down when she speaks, but it would really help her if her parents slowed down too. Apparentlyshethinkswetalkreallyfastandneedtoslowdown. Idon'tseewhatshe'stalkingabout. Her issues aren't that bad but Aly's been asking us lately to help her to pronounce things properly so we figured it was a good time to get a little professional help. Hopefully she will improve quickly.

Secondly, I think Aly's face looks good with bangs. However her bangs never lay nicely because she has some wild cowlicks up front and that coupled with her curl doesn't bode well for obedient bangs. So for now we are going to try growing them out. I think I am starting to get used to it...we'll see. Thoughts???

As I mentioned before Ander thinks he is a thumb sucker. Luckily he struggles with coordination and often can't get his thumb in his mouth. He settles for his wrist or his fist no problem. In fact I just realized the little bruise I saw on his wrist for the second time and had been racking my brain trying to figure out when he might have been hurt- well it's actually a bruise from him sucking on his own arm. Anyway, I had been taking advantage of his weak and uncoordinated newborn muscles and when I see him trying to get his thumb in his mouth I shove his pacifier in there and smugly congratulate myself on the save. But now as you can see his skills are suddenly improving and I have discovered him with his thumb plugged in his mouth after having settled himself down several times now. It might be my imagination but I swear he is wearing that same smug look I had been before. Touche'.
I apologize in advance to post about children's artwork that perhaps only a parent could love, but Kohen's is just so consistently entertaining. I had to add this Jack-o-lantern he made at school. It makes me really happy, I think it's the teeth. Anyway, it's important to note that this wasn't a class project but something he came up with during his free time. Love it.
Kennedy had the quote of the week this week when we were putting up some Halloween decorations. I pulled out this small skeleton and Kennedy says excitedly, "Oh look at this little skeleton! It must be an Elf skeleton."

Poor Mr.Peeps