A foreigner in Taiwan....with a newborn!

A few thoughts about having a baby in taiwan (in bullet point form as this fogged brain can not think in paragraphs).  Oh and these are just thoughts, not judgements or criticisms lest I be judged.  I have found my baby-birthing experience very pleasant and have found the community of locals SO kind and receiving of us as foreigners (despite our inability to speak Chinese well):

~ Admission to the hospital the night before a scheduled c-section is actually a good idea to me, except when your roommate has already had her baby and her soothing techniques are far from soothing.
~ The VIP room that you pay over $100 USD to stay in is WELL WORTH the cost, especially when your roommate's soothing techniques include making loud barking noises with a "huh" sound.
~ Taiwan National Health Care is wonderful because you don't pay a penny all year...but then you must bring your own baby thermometer and other such items or else you will be charged.  I'm not accustomed to national health care.
~An operating room seems to flow like those in the US (I am biased, thinking US standards are best). Really, they did an EXCELLENT job!
~Warming lights are the hospital's best friend...and mine!
~ After 30 minutes of skin to skin with your baby right after she is born, the four hours they say they will take your baby for observation seems like an eternity even though in reality it was only 3-which is still a REALLY LONG TIME!  I truly believe it was for this reason that I struggled with some attachment to my baby this time around that I didn't experience with my other two, spending the nights with her on my chest (and she slept 5 hours in a row as a result!).
~ Not knowing enough Chinese can be EXTREMELY frustrating, especially at 5am when they wake you to find out what has happened through the night!  I can't even speak English in that situation let alone Chinese!
~ The hands off approach of the nurses is quite nice, and yet they did a meticulous job of taking care of baby.  They have their priorities straight! :)
~Taking a baby out in public before they are one month old is almost not worth it because of all of the attention you will receive...not just for being a foreigner (we're used to that) but because Taiwanese have what's called "zuo yue zi" where the mother and baby stay indoors for one month.  For this reason, they are not used to seeing a baby younger than one month and not used to seeing a mother who has just had a baby for that matter, causing them to make comments about how BIG my belly is and ask questions like, "When is THAT baby due" (pointing to my stomach).  UGH!
~ And also due to the "Zuo Yue Zi" post-partum mothers are not allowed to have ice or cold drinks...thank goodness they excuse me because I am a "wai guo ren" (foreigner).
~ Although it is still hitting mid-80's, I must adorn Clara is long-sleeves, pants AND a blanket in order to avoid comments about how cold my baby is.  Just the other day I had forgotten to do so and was forced to cover Clara in her burp cloth just so that a Taiwanese women would stop pestering me.  They really do care about my baby!
~ Clara has had her picture taken by so many locals (and us) I can not keep track anymore and she's only 4 weeks old!

Speaking of pictures...  Here is Clara at 2 weeks (my mom and I did a photo shoot with her):

 Yes, those are cloth diapers....did I mention we are using Bum Genius cloth diapers with Clara?  It was a gift from grandma Lola! :)  Oh and we LOVE them!!  Easy to use and should last her entire diapering life! :)

And Clara at 3 weeks (she was a zebra for halloween):

One week old

Here is our Clara Joy at one week old!  

Baby Clara continued

Just updating you all with a few pictures for all of our family and friends living half a world away celebrating with us the birth of our third baby girl!

Heading into the hospital the day before my c-section

Clara Joy Torgerson was born on 10/10 here in Taiwan (which is Taiwan's birthday) in the year of the dragon which is a REALLY big deal!  Everyone kept reminding us of how amazing and lucky we are to have a child born on this day!

In fact, it was such a cool thing the China Post decided to stop by and interview the American family who had a baby in Taiwan on 10/10 in the year of the dragon!  They even took a picture (probably not the most flattering picture of me as it was 6 hours after my c-section).  

 Clara weighed 7lbs 2 oz and was 19.5 inches tall (these are conversions from the actual measurements they took here in grams and centimeters respectively).  Clara was by far the most squawky at birth, but I think Ellie especially and even Siri were a little more abnormally quiet.  

 Proud sisters

Proud grandparents 

And a proud dad!

And against the rules here at this Taiwan hospital Clara is using a binky

That baby girl is looking at ME!

We call this hospital attire her ninja outfit

Our new family of FIVE!!

Clara is very cute and cuddly and we are already love her lots!

Clara Joy

Made in Taiwan!

A convo with Siri

Siri: I want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I do too, Siri but it's not on right now.
Siri: But I DO want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I DO too, but it's not on.
Siri: NO! You don't DO!  I DO!....{thinking}....you're a boy!

Wow, the worst insult that almost three year old could think of....you're a boy! Yikes!

Rollerblading Class! (Zhi Pai Lun)

Ever since the start of school LAST year, Ellie has been asking, begging to join the after school rollerblading class that her school provides one day a week.  We reluctantly said, "No" in attempt to figure out if her excitement was a fad, or true interest.  She had, after all received ice skates the summer before leaving Taiwan, so we knew she was excited about things of that nature, but she also grew tired of ice skating within minutes of hitting the ice, claiming it's arduousness.

So after a full year of persistence and an agreement with Lola and Baca, we decided her birthday present from Baca and Lola would be new rollerblades and we would pay for her to attend the class weekly.  Needless to say, she was ecstatic!  We waited until this week to really talk about it with her as we knew she would hardly be able to deal with her own excitement.  Well, this has been a long week for her, waiting until her first class on Friday when she would finally see her rollerblades for the first time (we ordered them through the school) and THEN put them on and try them!  

So as you can imagine, Friday came and at 6am Ellie came bursting into our room fully dressed and ready for school shouting, "It's Friday!!"  Haha!  Good morning!  And after waiting an entire school day she finally had her first rollerblading class which was a complete success!! She enjoyed it so thoroughly, in fact that she went home and put on her helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards immediately (and would also have put her rollerblades on if I would have allowed her)!  And so, here are the pics to prove her success.

The class was 1 1/2 hrs long and they spent the first 30 minutes applying equipment, sans rollerblades.

Little mei mei waiting patiently to watch Ellie in action.

 Then, they began practicing the art of falling and getting back up again safely.  Really a good idea!

And FINALLY, they put on their skates!

The remainder of time on skates was also spent practicing falling and getting back up again!  Haha! it was really brilliant because the kids learned how to do it successfully and they weren't scared to fall as they had spent most of the time doing it on purpose! 

Can you guess what we will spend our Saturday doing?

Typhoon....here?

Well according to the radar, we are currently IN the typhoon but according to our backyard, we're just experiencing a maybe-slightly-more-windy-than-normal day!  There's actually some sun attempting to peek through the clouds, though there are lots of clouds!  So here's the latest satellite picture:

We are on the southern half of Taiwan, so our city is definitely in that orangey area!  And for the record, we DID experience some rain and wind last night, but nothing that left any lasting impressions!

And here are the views from our apartment.  To the north:

 And to the south:

If things escalate I will let you know, but it seems for now we are in the clear!

Typhoon coming!

We've been anticipating a Typhoon since early this week and I think it's finally almost here.  I just heard on the news more than 3,000 people on the east coast have evacuated, but thankfully we seem to be safe from evacuation here on the west side of the mountains.  With that said, the typhoon will still hit us and it looks like as hard as a category 3 out of 5!  We will see if the storm weakens as it passes over the mountains, but regardless, we will be getting lots of wind and lots of rain!  Two years ago around this time a category 3 hit taiwan, which caused lots of water to enter into the apartment building we live in.  So it looks like we may spend Joe's typhoon day tomorrow mopping up water, attempting to keep as dry as possible!

What complicates this already complicated storm is the fact that there is another one right behind it heading north which apparently will cause "our" typhoon (typhoon Tembin) to actually make a "u-turn" after passing over Taiwan and head BACK towards us, possibly only as a tropical depression. SO, it looks like this will be a lot of rain for possibly a long time!  Please pray for those who have evacuated (my understanding is that it is the landslides in the mountains that are so deadly)!  Here's a look at the radar as of about 1/2 hr ago:

Healthy update!

I went to the doctor today for a baby check-up and all is well!  Two weeks ago I had my gestational diabetes screening done and thankfully that came back normal!! Phew!!  I'm always nervous for that test because with Ellie I was borderline the first time and so I had to take a true fasting glucose screening in which they found my glucose levels to be normal (I'm pretty sure the apple I ate on the way to the screening the first time was NOT a good idea!).  And I was especially nervous this time because I didn't realize I'd be having the testing done at that appointment and made cinnamon rolls before I left and ate WAY too much of the sugary, caramel before hopping in the car to my appointment!  But, alas, it was normal and I am off the hook!  So in celebration of my normal glucose levels I went out and had a bubble tea!  (That is no joke!)

At every OB appointment in Taiwan, an ultrasound is done to check growth, heartbeat etc.  And this time my doctor decided to pull out the 4D ultrasound probe and get some SUPER clear pictures of our baby's face!!  And so without further ado, here is the most clear shot (that's her arm covering half her face):

If I get around to it, I will scan in the others and post some of them, but some are weird as she moved a little.  ISN'T THAT AMAZING!?!  

In preparation for this new little one that now has a face, we have moved Siri out of the crib (finally) and into a twin bed.  In fact, Ellie also advanced to a twin bed as she was in a toddler bed before.  So here is what their bedroom now looks like:

It's basically the same picture, just from different locations!  Do you like the siderails?  That was all Joe (oh yes, with Robb's help!).  

We are basically ready for this little one to arrive, but she is not so we are hoping she does stay where she's at until 10/10!  But after seeing her face, that 8 week wait just got harder!!

Growing Up

Ellie's response to a baby book I was reading to her this afternoon:

Book: "Dream your dreams of moonbeams. Let the night become your friend."
Ellie: "The night can't be your friend!!"
Book: "The twinkling stars will keep you safe till morning comes again."
Ellie: "Are the twinkling stars angels?!"
Kim: "No."

Ellie: "Can stars *really* keep you safe?!"
Kim: "No."
[Clearly our summer trip to the Adler Planetarium did a number on Ellie's view of the cosmos]

And Ellie got her first mani/pedi the day before we left for Taiwan! :)

We're Back!

After a very exciting summer away in America (with our first week in Hong Kong, actually) we are back!  We've been back for two weeks now.  The first week back we got to entertain Jamie (Joey's sis) and Robb (her hubby) and the second week the girls started school!  They were so excited to get back to school and after one full week, they are still excited to be back!  So far, so good! :)  And this Monday, Joey starts school!! Hopefully now that we are back, we can have some more regular updates!

Family pic from this summer:

ps.  As long as everything goes well, baby #3's birthday will be October 10th at 8:30am (the joys of having a c-section is knowing in advance the birthday!).

It's a Girl!

At my 17 week ultrasound we got word we were having a girl, though there was some doubt due to a bad angle But today at my 19 week ultrasound We have confirmation that we will be having another little girl in this house very soon! In case you are wondering why I had a 17 week and 19 week ultrasound there is an explanation. They do an ultrasound at every doctor appointment here in Taiwan and this appointment was early due to the fact that we are leaving for America in 10 short days and couldn't get an appointment any later than today but before leaving for America (well Hong Kong first then America).
And here she is with her hand to her mouth. :)

"The Lord's Prayer"

Apparently our bedtime routine is having an effect on our children.  They can now recite the Lord's Prayer by themselves!  

Now if only they could read their bedtime stories by themselves as well!

2 1/2...a wonderful age!

Siri Ann is now 2 1/2 and it has become very obvious to us in many ways that she is now, indeed 2 1/2.  While she is like her sister when she was 2 1/2 in many ways, Siri has her own spin on being 2 1/2 that keeps things exciting.  For example, she told me when it was time to be potty trained.  She took her own diaper off and led herself to the toilet and peed in the potty before I was ready to accept this challenge.  But being that she was so ready, there was no challenge involved!  Now that is the way to potty train if you ask me!

Being number 2 adds to the complexity of this 2 1/2 year old as she has learned much from her older sister and she is seen less by her parents.  Oh, and her personality just allows for certain things her older sister would have never tolerated, like messy things and physical risks.

All of that to explain why I found this when I woke up the other day:

Yes, that is marker.  Yes, she is very proud of herself. And yes, after pictures and a bath she sat, unwillingly for her timeout.  But did she learn her lesson?

                                       

I'm just not so sure.

Man-Made Music: May Edition

This is a song I posted a number of years ago, but I've just recorded it with some *more* legitimate sound equipment.  This one was particularly fun to record because I did it with my friends Jim (cello) and Mark. Because of the nature of the song, we had to do it live, so this is live from our living room (after the girls' bedtime, of course).  The backup vocals, however, were put in after the fact.  I hope you enjoy it!




It falls apart
and it would all go our way
if we'd have done that right, done that different,
but these are my old ways

Something's changed around here;
this old path to nowhere
cuts right down through here
splits us down through here

When the rain comes
It all goes right here
Don't wash on by
Won't you wash me?

It's dark out here, and they
say that hell is cold
well here's the hell in me
here's the hell that I control

So be ashamed of me afraid of me
oh never lose me
This path is broad my path is clear
it's full of lies but lies are marked and clear

When the rain comes
It all goes right here
Don't wash on by
Won't you wash me?

I say that I want peace
and I hate like this
Please hate me, but don't hate me
because I just want peace

When the rain comes
It all goes right here
Don't wash on by
Won't you wash me?

Bring on the Heat!

The rule of thumb here is, "don't put away 'winter' clothes until after tomb sweeping day."  Tomb sweeping day is about mid-april and sure enough, the heat is here to stay!  WOW!  I must say I'm better adjusted to this heat, having lived it once already, but I still don't like to sweat (unless I've actually put forth some kind of effort).  So, in "celebration" of this new season, we bought a little pool that we have placed on our balcony for those really hot days.  In other words, the girls have been swimming every day! :)

I'm not sure to whom these children belong!  Though those faces seem to look like some of the funny faces of someone else I know....