Festivities for Ander Man

This video is what Ander woke up to on his Birthday- it was a good way to start off his big day.

After breakfast we headed to the first place in Taiwan that actually met, nay, exceeded my expectations. Welcome to Formosa Fun Coast. A ginormous, awesome water park. The best part was that the normally crowded park was nearly empty due to a Chinese holiday- thank you random spirit or Chinese myth!
It was Ander's first water park experience and the smile was pretty much on his face from the moment his toes touched the water.
He loved the slides, we had to watch him carefully because he would try to climb up the slippery stairs the moment we set him free.
A quick ride on the tire swing with Aly...
Please, how cute is she^?
Kohen jumping out of the water like a dolphin... no pics of Kenna as she ran off with friends like a big kid.
Ander and I going down a water slide, I swear he actually loved it :)
And then he promptly fell into a deep sleep... sweet boy.
Meanwhile, since we were enjoying this gorgeous day with several other families, the men and the women took turns riding the waterslides since the lines were so unusually short. It was the most fun I've had since I can remember at a water park. It truly seemed like we were on a vacation in some sort of paradise. I guess Taiwan is an island...

What a rare treat this kind of day is.

Ander's 1st Birthday

I've been waiting for over a week now for Slide.com to get it's site back up and working but to no avail and Ander's fans (aka: gmas, aunties) will wait no longer. So I put up all the pics anyway and figure you can slide down the page fast if you want to make it a slide show after all.

Ander started off his evening with his favorite Sweet Potatoes.
The kid was getting snugs, hugs, and kisses all day long. (that's not a dead animal on Aly's forehead btw, those are her bangs heavily saturated with sunscreen).
Reaching for the best present ever...

Bouncy Balls! Aly gave him his first two. We let each child help him unwrap their present that they gave him. Ander was thrilled and it was every bit as adorable as you imagine.
Whack em together.... check!
Try biting them... Check!
Laugh... check!
Kennedy was next, two bigger bouncy balls.
Not enough hands!
Kohen gave Ander the biggest- a red bouncy ball, and he set about trying to keep all of the balls from rolling away and trying to hold them all at once.

Check out this cute wooden Winco truck my parents sent with Ander's present- Winco is where my Dad works so this is adorable for several reasons.

Ander has a bit of an obsession with our home phones so we were hoping this weird toy phone (the only decent toy we could find) might fill his need to play and drop and chuck phones. Writing this after the fact I can tell you that though he enjoys the toy he prefers to drop the real deal.
The cheering section- they were so excited for Ander all day long. I loved watching them watching him.
Kohen trying to make Ander laugh... he succeeded eventually :)
The phone was a big enough hit that we couldn't pry it out of Ander's hands until we swapped it for cake.
Not much surprise here but the boy was a fan of cake.

:::::: Big fan ::::::

So now most days look something like this ^. Ander quickly figured out how to drop, then throw and then kick his bouncy balls and he keeps himself properly entertained.

xoxo Ander!!!!

Ander Man

Ander turned one last week. I followed him around the yard (in weather that with humidity felt like 111*- only one of us minded) and took some pics of him playing. He has so many different expressions and looks that I wanted to try to catch just a few before they morph and change into something even more grown up.
I think back to September 21 of 2009 and I have to admit, a bit selfishly, that it was kind of a big day for me. It marked the first time that I faced the fact that I now lived in a different country and I began the very long process of accepting it. From the time we landed in Taipei until the moment I delivered Ander, I was very much in survival mode and the first thing I needed to do was have that baby. Don't talk to me about anything else until I have done that.
The second thing was that I was able to accomplish a personal goal of mine which was to have a baby naturally. There were many reasons why and some are too personal to share here but let's leave it at- it was something I wanted to do for myself.

I am surprised to find that countless times over the last year when faced with something that seemed too difficult, almost subconsciously I knew I could do it because of my experience giving birth to Ander. A large part of it was being prepared, like any challenge we face in life. But I have also come to believe that birth is meant to be a gift from our Heavenly Father where he shows his daughters how strong and capable we are.

(I have this urge to write more about how I am not judging any one else's birth choices (hey, I have 4 kids and one was quote, natural) nor am I ungrateful for the help and safety doctors have provided several of my family/friends. But I also just wanted to share that I was surprised and grateful for my natural birth experience.)
And as the months went on I finally faced my new reality of stinky, confusing, strange Taiwan where as I had heretofore been a competent adult, I was now illiterate and unable to communicate. I felt depression was imminent. Yet I had this sweet little bundle who needed me and whose hungry little cries forced me out of bed and my selfish/blue moods. I had a happy, healthy, sweet little baby to hang on to when I was having my regular "I HATE TAIWAN" days, and I knew that was more than some have. I think Ander's appearance, though the timing at first seemed obnoxious and inconvenient to our plans, turned out to be my saving grace in my fight against culture shock.
The last thing I wanted to say, and I know, you're thinking, how could there possibly be more?! But having had my first 3 children in Boise, swarmed and surrounded by family and friends- my experience here in Taiwan was obviously much ... different. I thought for sure I would mourn my family missing each new milestone Ander would make. And there have definitely been days when I wish everyone who would care, could see how dang cute my little man is.

But the reality is Ander has had many, many more people love on him and express his blatant adorableness or early mobility, or whatever it may be. They were mostly just perfect strangers. Perfect Asian strangers. I never would have thought it, but these Taiwanese people have loved my little baby. And I needed them to. Does that make sense?

Stopping me on the street to squeeze his chubby thigh and induce a dimpled smile around his two fingers in his mouth- echoes of "hoa ke ai" ( so cute) following us through crowded market streets- or a favorite, being surrounded in the Taiwan airport on our way home this summer, all of these grandmas taking turns squeezing the stuffin' out of Ander and then passing him on to the next grandma. They may not know him but I know they loved him, and that he made their day just like he would've his own grandmas.

K- that's not to say there haven't been a few creepers or annoying people trying to take pictures, but on the whole, the gestures were innocent and kind.
Maybe because with each child you realize more and more how time unfairly slips away when you have a new baby, but I tried really hard to take each moment to snuggle up this sweet boy of mine. Wonder if that had anything to do with why he started crawling and walking earlier- to escape? But I think not since even now in the midst of his literal running around the room, he still comes to me for hugs, I bend down and he leans in and pats my shoulder. If that doesn't melt your heart, you should get that checked out because you probably don't have one.

H20 in September

Kennedy just finished up her first of two swimming sessions during school. This time they showed us how they had learned to exit a large boat (maybe aircraft?!) in an emergency. They held their life jackets with arms crossed over their chests then jumped in the water straight as can be, finally signaling to the next in line with a raised arm that it was safe for them to jump.
Kind of a fun picture, Kenna is in the middle with her feet facing left.

Next we have 30 seconds of a rain storm from the other day. Even with all of the drains our yard has it was still flooded. Taiwan can be efficient at dropping the rain, that is for sure.

You may have heard we had a typhoon this last Sunday, this video is not that. The typhoon was kind of weak sauce if I am being honest. But glad we were all safe.

Lastly, we have the most random of all, right outside our house we discovered this geyser spewing forth one afternoon. I gathered the kids to investigate with me. The construction guys had set up a sign but it was all in Chinese so I assume it said, "We make big mess, long time fix, No sorry." or something along those lines.
In the end we had ZERO idea what caused the geyser but we were pleased when it soon stopped along with the mysterious little stream that had been leaking across our drive for the past week or so. It was probably my neighbors toilet water or something. Maybe that's what the sign said.

History repeats itself

One winter when my older sister Natalie was about 7 we were sledding at my grandparents house in Montana. At one point Natalie randomly picks up a saucer shaped sled, puts it on her head and says in a loud, monotone voice, "I'm a China girl, ahhh!" For whatever reason this 5 seconds of family video became a classic. And in my offspring I have produced the sequel:

A pretty legit sequel if I do say so myself.

A gardener comes every 2 weeks to tame our massive jungle and Kohen has taken to being his "helper". The gardener Daniel probably hates it but he is too nice to say anything. I came outside to find Kohen wearing this local hat, hauling all of the huge tree cuttings up the drive way and picking up other branches and putting them in the bag. He was certainly pulling his weight.

Kohen was in love with the hat. He wanted it. But I convinced him he needed to earn his own. And he really needs to because it does seem to fit just right.
He's a China boy, ahhh!

Handerpants

I was recently given the best, most pee in your pants funny kind of gift. It was extra funny due to an inside joke but I have confidence it is funny enough on it's own merits to share. And I'm just gonna give you this caution: BEWARE. Once you see this product you are going to wonder how you ever lived without it. No, it's not the Snuggie, though this product would compliment one well. I present to you:

Handerpants- Underpants for your hands!!!

As you can see there are "hundreds of uses", namely Texting, Construction, Cooking, Cruising, The Elderly(???), and Night Blogging.

I can't believe I have engaged in so much night blogging without the safety and comfort of my Handerpants! tsk tsk on me.
Now I've discovered that Handerpants work wonders for "Night" Texting too!

Not to mention doing your hair,

Channel Surfing,

Warding off attacking Crocodilian,

Truly, the uses are endless! Do you know what is already awesome but becomes dazzling with Handerpants?....

Jazz hands!!!!!