The Natives Are Restless

The natives are restless. Each day the walls of this apartment seem to close in a few inches more. There has been a lot of playing pretend and the children making good use of the very limited items they have to play with. But the playing often turns to tiffs and there is no where to get away from each other. Most recently we've had a rash of the children destroying things. I'm telling you, this typhoon's got nothin on my kids.

I know it was accidental but still, who sleeps with Silly Putty not in it's container?! Kohen does. He woke me in the middle of the night to show me how his Silly Putty had brutally attacked his eye mask as he slumbered. It also strategically spread itself on the blanket he was sleeping on, the one he was covering with, and his pajama shirt. All ruined. It's the seedy under side of Silly Putty I tell ya- if it gets ground into something, it ain't comin out. Before it was all said and done one of my few clothing items, a skirt, was somehow also ruined. :(

Then this morning the kids were playing and it was kind of escalating into wildness quickly when we heard a large crash. The closet door in Kenna and Kohen's room had quite literally been ripped off the hinges. There are of course conflicting reports on exactly how the door was maimed but it sounds like some sort of football type tackle move against it... it is an old door and hinge but still- what's a good consequence for that?

And last but not least we have Kenna sporting her un-puttied eye mask as she attempts to go to sleep with gale force winds whipping around right outside the window. You may notice her bunny tucked into it's sleeping bag next to Kenna, all 3 children got one as a present when we moved into the apartment for their respective stuffed animals. It's been a big hit to have someplace temporary for their treasured animals to sleep just as they are somewhere temporary... anyway, I hope there is something left of this apartment when we leave. It is old and not up to the rigors of 3 caged children.

We've Complied

We've complied, swim caps for all. It is so funny to see my kids lookin like serious swimmers with the caps on. We've been swimming a couple of times at the apartment pool- I guess I said "we've" but truth be told I just sat in the heat and watched because swim lessons were going on and we were already a bit of a spectacle and there was no way I was getting in the pool with all those parents gawking. Nevertheless, Nathan and the kids have had some pretty fun times.

Our traditional "chuck the kid" picture- though these are a little blurry. Poor Kohen, waistband on his shorts seems to be failing him.

Aly was not a fan of the "chuck".... too bad. Family tradition, all must participate- just like Festivus and the feats of strength, no one gets out of the pool till they've been chucked!

Kennedy's a pro by now- had some cool shots of her mid-air acrobatics.

We had Kennedy's interview at TAS (Taiwan American School) which went well- they were very complimentary with how Kennedy tested, especially her reading skills, which always makes a parent glow. Kenna is asking all the time when she gets to really start school. (end of next week)

After the interview we had an appointment to go up and show the kids our house-to-be. The German family that has been living there has been so gracious to us. Angelica came out to greet us and showed us around and let the kids explore to their hearts content... which didn't turn out to be that long since she has a dog that they were totally distracted by. We are scheduled to be able to move in Sept. 1, for those of you keeping track that is exactly 2 weeks before my due date... At least I will be distracted, right?

I also went in to the hospital to see the OB who will be delivering Baby #4- the appointment went fine though somehow I left in a blue mood about delivering here. But reading my Maternal Handbook from their office did make me smile. I found Nausea spelled with a W- Wausea, and an H- Hausea...*giggle* And my favorite part: "The Mouse Cavity Hygiene"- where it tells me to, "Avoid feeling sick or vomiting." Will do! And, "Do the mouse cavity checkups during the early and middle pregnancy." I don't know about you but I always worry about my "mouse" and it's hygiene when pregnant.

Coming soon*: our first Typhoon!

*as long as there aren't any lengthy power outages.

It's Bloody Hot

I was trying to be tough because it isn't like I didn't know what the weather was like here, especially in July and August. But it has been so incredibly hot, and that combined with the humidity...It's an oft used description but since it is so accurate I will repeat it, walking outside is quite literally like stepping into a steam sauna fully clothed. The natural response- besides going back inside- is to take your clothes off asap, though I suspect that's frowned upon which is a real bummer.

You can try clicking on the picture, we'd been outside less than 5 minutes, but you can see Nathan and I 'glistening', Kohen and even more so Aly's faces just turn entirely bright red and even after we go inside they tend to stay flushed for a while. We learned quickly to B.Y.O.W.- Bring your own water- everywhere we go. I am embarrassed that 3 levels underground in a parking lot (imagine stifling heat that has no where to go) your favorite pregnant lady swooned- nearly passed out. It was weird, I was just so hot and I couldn't breathe. Felt like a bit of a boob. But then just today we were told it has been hotter than it has been in 5 years and so now I'm feeling like we're handling the heat quite well.

(Taipei 101)

Okay, next subject. Our kids are rockstars here and it's making me a tinge crazy. On this night we were downtown and had to go to Nathan's Accountant to sign papers for our ARC cards (Alien Resident Cards). Everywhere we go the people are so nice and treat our kids like royalty. The accountant actually sent one of his secretaries out to a store to bring back something for the kids after Aly embarrassingly yelled, "I want cold water!" having been served the traditional warm/hot water everyone drinks here. First Aly get's ice water- ice water! Ice is about the hardest thing to come by here and I was totally shocked when I saw it in the cup. Then the girl brings back a bag full of treats, gummy bears, Mentos, 3 Cokes, giant juice boxes filled with some kind of tea- we were only in the office for all of 15 minutes! And in case you are wondering, both drinks were a bit of a navigational mine field as we don't drink tea and Coke isn't a soda we would normally serve our kids (though one of the only ones you find here) and we didn't want to offend...

Next we found a place to eat and when Nathan took the children to go wash hands before the food came a lady had made cranes out of her napkins to give to the kids as they went back by her table. Those were a huge hit. For whatever reason Kennedy would not touch her noodles at dinner. They were like plain noodles in broth- very simple and understated but she would not eat. Towards the end of dinner she actually asks if there is something for dessert (insert my crazy 'as if' cackle here). I of course reply, "No, but even if there were I'm afraid you wouldn't be having any since you didn't touch your food." Not 5 minutes later here comes our waitress with complimentary bowls of ice cream for our 3 children.

All of this happened in about an hour and a half- it blows my mind. The people here are very nice and generous, that much is obvious. Will my children get through this experience without becoming completely spoiled, that remains to be seen. And for the record, Kennedy had to eat noodles before she got to eat her ice cream.

On our way home we learned valuable Taiwan Lesson #1: Always carry an umbrella. Admittedly, it should be a no-brainer but... We all got soaked going the short distance from the curb to the lobby. Surprisingly it doesn't cool you off that much which seems a bit unfair. Aly kept running back out claiming she needed to "take a shower" and I let her, deciding on the spot that there will definitely be more dancing and playing in the rain in Taiwan for our family. And why not, you're already soaking wet from the heat, might as well.

An Outing of Acrobats

First of all I have to say thank you so much for reading all my long-windedness and leaving comments of encouragement etc. Being over here in such a new place and far away from family and friends, you guys don't even know how much it means to me. So, thanks.

The girls from our church ward invited us on an outing to the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts where each week their students put on a Performance of Chinese Acrobatics followed by a tour of their Jun-ju Museum and then a performance of Beijing Opera. The acrobatics was cool, a couple times they had to try a trick 3 or 4 times to land it which actually made it more realistic but didn't take away from the performance. All of my children seemed dully impressed, at one point Kohen leaned over and I was expecting a question about the logistics of the crazy and amazing stunts he was seeing, instead he asked in wonder, "How do they change costumes so fast!?"

After the 1/2 hour acrobatics they had us go upstairs to the museum which was about 75% over the kids heads. Our tour guide above with Kohen is actually the girl in the picture behind her with the blue robe on. Below is Aly standing on what she thought was her own stage. At one point she asked if the long feather on the headdress of the person on the pic behind her was a snake, all of the Chinese tour guides following us everywhere thought this was hilarious...I am still unclear why.
The costumes they wear are really ornate, one interesting fact is that the most royal and high color you can wear is gold but that color is reserved only for the real Royal Family and so they aren't allowed to wear gold on stage and instead wear red to denote royalty... interesting.

This was a bunch of mannequins all dressed up like in the Opera and they were more than a little creepy. I thought Kennedy's expression below was an accurate read of how we all felt about them.
The 1/2 hour Opera was entertaining enough. Who knew that Chinese Opera singing literally sounds like a crying/dying cat and I am so not exaggerating. Not sure how much of that I could handle. They had English to the right of the stage that would tell us what was happening in the story and that had some funny mistakes in it. I especially love when the two main characters fell in love and promptly "left to go to bed"! Hello.
I made Nathan slyly take this picture of the Chinese girls who were staring at our row of American kids. I told you they stare unabashedly- I meant it! In this picture you can see 4 girls who were completely loving their life for the free entertainment we were providing. You'd never know the stage was actually in front of them. :)

The Next Few Days

So the naps everyone took Day 1 were a mistake. We had the hardest time we've ever had trying to wake the 3 kiddos up, no one wanted to budge. But we thought we were in the clear because at bed time around 8pm everyone went down without a word of complaint. But starting at 1am they all took turns waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed and at least for Kennedy, the night was completely over sometime shortly after 3am. Everyone was awake by 5:30am. This is not an ideal way to start a day.

The problem with having jet lagged little children is that Nathan and I are jet lagged too and so our patience are shorter than usual and with all we were trying to go and get done, dragging our children with us, it made for a day bad enough to at least make it on the list of worst days ever. Think almost 2 hours in a cell phone store with 3 children, no snacks or distractions and LOT'S of people staring at you.

That brings me to another point. I can't get over how everyone just outright stares at us everywhere we go. I swear, we go to eat somewhere and the employees park themselves somewhere nearby with a good view and just stare at us while we eat, it is so unnerving! I think it is partially because we are American, partially because we have 3 not well behaved children (though there is a legit reason for their recent unruliness) and another one on the way- but it just feels like they are looking at us because our kids are outta line. And most of them have only one or two children and I haven't seen an Asian child acting out yet so I am sure we are pretty entertaining, maybe somewhere in the horror genre? Still, the staring is something I'm going to have to get used to I guess.

The taxis were a fun new adventure for our kids, more of a nightmare for the parents. Picture them in their wild state, unleashed and unbuckled in the backseat of a car and let your imagination wander. A few of the rides were pretty brutal with children climbing over the top of me and fighting over whose looking out the window, who touched who, standing up, turning around, good times. But after riding restrained in vehicles their whole lives it makes complete sense to me that they would react to taxis as if they were an amusement park ride. Freaks me out to have Aly anywhere near a door handle though so we've set some taxi ground rules since the beginning: Kennedy is first in and locks the door as soon as she gets in. Seats on the seat, no standing! 2nd and 3rd child rotate who sits where, if Kohen or Aly don't feel they have a good enough view they can take turns sitting on my lap...these have helped immensely. Except now we are renting a car- a whole different set of anxiety with this.

So Day 2 was rough for everyone but days 3 and 4 have been increasingly better. Today we went to church which was of course wonderful to get to go somewhere familiar and get to see people I had met on our house hunting trip. Funny story. I am still getting used to the conversion of dollars to NT. It is about 32 NT to $1 American dollar and so my mind is still adjusting to the math at every turn. That coupled with the fact that some things are outrageously expensive here -a Lexus SUV for instance, would cost $125,000 American Dollars to buy in Taiwan. So when we were at church talking with a couple who are getting ready to move and they offer to sell us their water tower Nathan and I definitely had interest. Nathan asks what they are selling it for and the guy says "3,ooo" and Nathan doesn't bat an eye and is totally agreeing with this guy and trying to work out logistics and I am freaking out in my mind trying to figure out why Nathan is so okay with spending 3 grand on a water dispenser! So I am sitting there incredulous thinking Nathan can forget a second car, he can just ride his water tower to work for that price. Then I suddenly realize the guy meant 3,000 NT, not dollars! They are selling the water tower for about the equivalent of $100 US dollars. I started laughing out loud, could not believe how dumb I'd been but how am I supposed to know what is what in this country that seems like a different planet at times?

Day 1...A Good Day

The hotel we stayed at the first 2 nights is called The Grand Hotel which is the most amazing structure. It is the only Chinese Palace-Style Hotel in the world (according to their paper place mats at breakfast, the obvious authority) which is pretty neat. It is the most ornate and cool building. We were on the 9th floor and the view was pretty awesome. Kennedy spent quite a bit of time that first morning looking out at her new home. She kept asking when we were going exploring, 5:30am is a little early for that.
We had gone over to check out Nathan's apartment we will be staying at (slightly depressing) and then we went to COSTCO!! It was so comforting just to see a familiar sign. They carry about 60% western stuff and a lot of really super creepy stuff. They were sampling some weird soup with large unidentified things floating in it and as we went by Kohen says, "I WANT to try that...." Nathan and I laughed so hard at how we could hear his mind actually change as he was saying it.

We were excited to see they had, among other weird and creepy things, hot dogs and pizza. However upon closer inspection we were pretty disappointed to find there were 3 types of pizza, Hawaiian which boasted pineapple and some thick mystery meat, Some Seafood pizza with lots of mystery meats, and Peking Duck. We tried the Hawaiian and Nathan tried the Peking Duck...let's just say they weren't hits with the Jensens.

The eye masks were from the flight and a big ol hit for whatever reason and they both wore them for their highly-regretted-in-hind-sight-nap that first day.

This is from our balcony, you could see the swimming pool that you have access to if you stay at the Grand Hotel.
Notice Kennedy's borrowed swimming cap- apparently they are all the rage over here, turns out you are supposed to wear them in any pool...okay. We went down and went swimming but due to the lack of proper head wear for Aly and I (they had 3 we could use) we hung out in the baby pool and were later joined by the other 3.

Below is a not very impressive picture of a very impressive building. If you have interest I am sure if you Google The Grand Hotel, Taiwan you would get some awesome pictures of it and how incredibly ornate it is. Overall day one was a good day.

The Big Flight

Much to my dismay the "Big Day" finally arrived. We left Boise around 2pm and boarded the EVA airlines flight for Taipei Taiwan around 6:45pm. Kennedy and Kohen had been anticipating this special flight for some time and for once the plane did not seem to disappoint. We were flying business class and it was a whole new world for them. I was sitting next to Kohen and then across the aisle to my left was Kenna and in front of Kohen and I was Nathan and Aly. They all spent the time until take off and then until dinner exploring their new surroundings with utter awe. Kennedy showed me how you drink out of such fancy cups -with your pinky out. She asked me why they would want to make an airplane like a hotel with a tv, blankets, pillows and food? Oh my dear daughter, just wait till you see how long this flight is...

Kennedy was engrossed in the safety video and when it was over she turned to me and asked where the present under her seat was. Confused I asked her what she meant and she said, "I saw it on the video, there is a present under our seat!" I realized she probably meant the flotation device and told her it was actually like a life jacket, she said a little bummed, "but it had a bow..." lol.
Kohen discovered his Silly Putty and it kept him quite entertained. Unfortunately he started to drive me nuts asking me what it was called again? funny pulley? silly stuff? who cares what it's called?! Just play! Kohen also really enjoyed his meal and was eating huge bites and hardly chewing and generally just shoving things in his mouth. I started to get nervous he was gonna make himself sick. He didn't understand that they were going to bring him more food later and he didn't need to gorge himself now. Kinda weird reaction to a tray of food I thought.
I caught this pic of Aly and Nathan doing a cheers at take off, not even a recreation for the blog which is tricky with a cheers! The EVA attendants are all young asian women and they were crazy attentive and helpful. After the late dinner the kids got in pajamas and tucked in to watch a movie. With a little help from Benedryl Aly was the first to give around 10pm. Kenna and Kohen both fell asleep around midnight Boise time. The only downfall I can find about EVA air is the seats. The sleep position is actually a straight line, like this / except slightly more

reclined. It was so odd, you just slide down the seat! Eventually we found a half seated position with the feet out that seemed to work for the kids though I did find Kennedy and later Kohen had slid down and the seat belt was now at their neck, though they looked comfortable otherwise. I would've taken a picture but I didn't want to risk waking them. The EVA ladies were sweet, I woke once to one of them carefully leaning over me trying to cover Kohen up again as he'd kicked off his blankets- a different lady recovered Kenna as well which was sweet I thought.

Sleep was a little elusive for me but then it would be under the best of circumstances. After a few hours trying to rest the seats just felt so hard, ouch. Everyone was up at about 6 am Boise time when they turned the lights on and served breakfast. We landed at 8am Boise time, 10pm Taipei time the next night if that makes sense. As we stood waiting for our little stroller and everyone else was walking by 99% Asian, Kohen gives a cheery, "Ni hao!" then turns to me and says, "I said hi in Spanish."

As our family spectacle moved towards customs everyone stared at us unabashedly, it's a little unnerving. We got our 11 bags/car seats and Nathan goes to exchange currency and this is where I had my only "moment" so far. He turns to me and asks if I want to exchange my money. Defying common sense I refuse. I flat out refuse to exchange the $75 I happen to have in my wallet, rendering it utterly useless over here, but I just cannot do it. Nathan seemed to know better than to push the issue and let it go. The lump in my throat might have turned to more if it weren't for the kids spying the play structure around the corner. We headed there while Nathan went to secure some transportation.

There were two other little Taiwanese children playing and it was cute because as my kids ran in and none of them could communicate through language, it didn't matter a bit and they were off and running. Aly walked right up to one of the young mothers and her baby and said, "Ni hao!...That's Chinese." That got a laugh out of the moms. I had heard from my friend that at least in China people stop them to take pictures of their kids all the time. I doubted it would happen here but then the mom whips out her camera and starts taking pics of our kids together, and trying to catch one of Aly as she zoomed by with her light colored curls bouncing behind her. So maybe it will happen, who knows.

Anyway, we decided to stay at a hotel for at least the first night and we arrived around midnight and settled the kids down around 12:30am Taipei time and they were up again around 5:30 am...more to come soon.

8 Months

Well, a few weeks overdue with this post but you know, the tummy is generally doing the same thing, just getting bigger. I am experiencing all of the typical 3rd trimester irritations like insane heart burn, unable to sleep comfortably, lot's of peeing about a thimbles worth of pee every few minutes etc. so I take it as proof I am having a normal pregnancy.

A few months ago we went in for our family medical stuff to get what we needed before we moved. The dr. called to tell us everyones blood work looked great except mine. He said my platelets (they help your blood to clot) were quite a bit lower than they should be and that my OB needed to know. So then my OB starts testing my blood regularly and the plateletes continue to drop every week and the CA dr. tells me I have some gestational something or another where basically your plateletes drop. Long story short, pretty much the only negative consequence of this is surprisingly not bleeding to death after delivery, but just that I can't have an epidural. I guess the risk of someone hitting a vein and having their be blood pushing on the nerves of the spine increases the risk of permanent damage too much and after a certain point they won't do it. About a month ago I hit that point. I was mostly frustrated that I wouldn't have a choice and I had no idea what that would mean for labor and delivery in Taiwan, besides pain of course.

I was seeing Dr. West for the month we were in Boise and the last time he checked my plateletes before we left he called me himself to tell me that my plateletes are up, way up!!! So now I am just trying not to worry about whether or not they have fallen again but I am cautiously optimistic.

*picture by Tara Lynn photography

The Beach House and Such

The Oregon Coast is so beautiful, if you've been there, you know. We were lucky enough to stay all together (6 families, 12 Adults, 18 children, plus 2 in utero) at a big beach house right on the water front. It was constant fun and nonstop playing for the 18 cousins.

                    (Kennedy with her cousin Morgan, Tripp and Brayden in the back ground)

                                                                             
It was nice because we could sit up at the house and watch various family members flying kites, searching for treasures, playing in the sand and generally making good use of the beach. Aly never failed to total whatever outfit she was wearing about 2 minutes down there. Impressive. When the kids got too cold they could come up to the house and warm up in the indoor pool and hot tub which was well used over the week for sure.
My niece Emilee with a starfish she found on our beach- definitely a cool find.
Maddie and Aly below- Maddie (and all the older cousins) were so good with all the younger kids. I walked by a room one day to see Maddie patiently sitting on the floor while the two 3 year olds, Aly and Lyssa each had a brush in her hair that they were yanking around. Aly looks up and sees me and shouts excitedly, "WE'RE BABYSITTING!!" Maddie, you were such a good sport!
Norm (my FIL) working a trick kite, they were getting pretty good with those things!
The tidal pools we went to were super cool. The water had carved out these rocks and there were thousands of little pools where little creatures are caught and submitted to our exploring until the tide comes in again and relieves them. If you've never done this before, I personally think you should put it on your list of things to do in your life. It's so much fun.


Kennedy touching a sea anemone for the first time. She was nervous at first but eventually left no anemone unbothered :)

This was one of many hermit crabs the boys found. This specific one was Kohen's, according to him. He was convinced he needed to keep the crab and it took us A LOT of coercing to get him to leave the crab when we left the tidal pools. 

One afternoon we all went on a hike to see this cool suspension bridge. It was a fun hike that most the children were able to handle without too much trouble (though on the way back up Kohen did tell me at one point, "I can only take one more step!" which I thought was cute cuz don't you usually say, 'I cannot take one more step!'?). The bridge was the coolest foot bridge I've ever been on- though my experience in the matter is limited, I'm pretty sure the general concensus was it was a unique and cool bridge.

Below is one of the grossest things, um, ever, I'm pretty sure. My nephew Caleb found and befriended this giant banana slug. G-R-O-S-S! But he (and every cousin he showed) was in slug heaven. Carried the thing all the way back up the trail where he located another slug to leave this one with. Who knew the slime that the slug secreted all over Caleb's arm and hands that looks like the consistency of hair gel is actually more like rubber cement and does not just wash off. You gotta love boys.

Fires for s'mores before bed was a favorite activity of Kenna, Kohen and Aly. As you can see from the pic below and the cluster of children, it was a hit all around. 

Every night- and even some days- my kids had played so hard that they were just completely wiped out. We went in one night to find Kohen asleep with one foot on the floor almost as if he is about to take off, lol. Doesn't look that relaxing to me but he was in fact sound asleep. 
It was a wonderful trip and we are so grateful we were able to go and spend time with our family making such fun memories. Oregon coast- if you've never been, put it on your list. 

Oregon Coast Trip 2009

This summer we have been looking forward with anticipation to our trip to the Oregon Coast with the Jensen's. Looking forward to the 8-10 hr drive to the coast? not so much.  But we did make some fun stops along the way. The first 3 pics are from the back door of our hotel room in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Not too shabby. 

We headed to Multnomah Falls which are just outside Portland. Beautiful. The bridges that would never be considered 'child safe' were another matter. Thankfully none of the kids tried to fit through the gaping holes in the bridge because- stomach turning- they would have easily slipped through. Ugh. 
We met up with the Pugmire clan (Nathan's sister Tara's fam) at the falls and headed up the trail together. We ended up walking clear up a trail thinking there was a better vantage point of the falls but alas, it was just a hiking trail. Gorgeous scenery though.
As we headed back to the parking lot we crossed under this train bridge and as we did a train came blaring through, mere feet away. It BLEW Kohen's mind as you can see in the picture below, he was absolutely giddy as the long train took several minutes to speed by. His excitement did not wain a bit as it passed. Kennedy? if you can spot her in her neon green jacket covering her ears- not such a big fan. Like the 4th of July fireworks, the train was just too loud to be enjoyed. And my dear Aly had been throwing a bit of a tantrum when the train blazed through, it was hilarious to watch her realize she'd been completely upstaged.

Lovin this family pic below, Kohen has taken to all sorts of poses lately when the camera is brought out- he's actually got some skills so I can't complain. Anyway, Multnomah Falls was a fun way to kick off our trip to the coast.