Looking Back

I will admit it. I am a horrible mother who is way behind on putting together the baby bear's photo albums. Now that school is done and I have a little more time on my hands I have started going through pictures in the hopes of finally getting things together. I figure if I finish by the time he is 18, then I'm not in horrible shape!

In the process I stumbled across a couple of pictures from when the little guy was just a peanut, as opposed to the coconut that I have now. What cracked me up though, were the pictures of his dreaded "tummy time". When LJ was first born he HATED being on his stomach. No surprise really; at that age, learning to hold up your head is much like going through an intense ab workout: painful, but needed to build muscle. I usually had about a 5 minute window before tummy time turned into WWIII and I did what I could to make the most of those precious minutes. Being one to record everything--good and bad--I took some shots during his throes of agony.

It is amazing how fast time has flown.

It started off benign enough:



A short 5 minutes later:

China

It is hard to believe now, but before 2000 I had never taken a plane ride. We took vacations growing up, traveling up and down the east coast; however my father's general apprehension towards aviation kept us auto-bound. My first venture was a *small* little trip from western PA to Zibo, China. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! That marked a turning point in my life. As soon as I got that passport in my hand and tasted the adventure of exploring a new country I was hooked.

Before leaving college I would make a return visit, this time getting the opportunity to teach workshops alongside my professor. I learned to be a flexible traveler and to welcome new experiences. It was my first taste of snake and chicken feet and of course, the fabled 1,000 day old eggs. Though neither trip widened my grasp of Mandarin, I did learn to toast cheers and say thank you. My upbringing was decidedly sheltered, but that trip opened my eyes to the way others outside my sphere of being lived. I remember being fascinated by the views the college students I talked with had about life in America. One student made it very clear to me that Americans were all "fat, rich, and blonde" and wondered why I wasn't :)

My favorite parts of the trip were not the sights we saw, though all were amazing and rich in history. However, it was the personal connections with the culture that I cherished. I loved playing with our driver's young daughter and communicating through silly faces though neither of us spoke the other's language. I remember surprising a group of school children by joining in their snowball fight (and later regretting it when they took the opportunity to pounce on the strange American!). I remember following in somewhat shock as a random woman grabbed me in a store and pulled me over to a prize area so I could try my hand at winning a pearl (which I did!) I had no idea what she wanted, and hoped that I was not being led out of the store! Then there was the traditional Chinese dance recital that was presented in our honor where upon completion I was pulled to the stage and instructed to teach a "traditional American dance". Like a deer in headlights, the only dance I could recall was the dreaded chicken dance--so I delivered. They loved it, and to this day I wonder if there is a group of Chinese who believe that the chicken dance is actually a traditional American dance!

Looking back, I think that trip set the stage for many choices I would later make in my life. The biggest, of course, being when a certain tall blonde convinced me to leave my stable job and family in NY in favor of the unknowns of Hawaii. There are parts of this life that I do not enjoy. I miss my family terribly. I wish more then anything that I could be home to see my niece and nephews as they grow and welcome the newest member of our family in June. However, the adventure--the exploration--of this life I will never regret. It is a mixed blessing and as I said when I started this blog, it is one I hope that I will always take advantage of.

I do not have many pictures from my China trip on this computer and the ones I do are grainy from being scanned so this is a very poor representation of what the trip truly was. I think that is why I take so many pictures on our trips now. Someday I will look back with nostalgance and I hope that the physical reminders at least somewhat mirror the pictures in my mind.

Confucius's home. I loved visiting here. I can not describe the feel except to say: peaceful.

Forbidden City (with Dr. F in the corner)

Great Wall. The Great Wall is amazing--as well as amazingly cold! On my first trip to China my luggage was lost until the day before we left so I had very few clothes to choose from, much less warm clothes to select. I bundled myself up in hand-me-downs from Dr. F and made do. Notice the lovely scarf wrapped around my head. I sported that look a lot on that trip.

Tiananmen square (make note of the lovely scarf again!)

Finals, Haircuts, and Easter, Oh My!

It has been awhile since I updated this. I spent the last couple of weeks finishing up my final project for my masters and completing the Comprehensive Exam. If all goes well I will have officially earned my degree by April 11th. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Jason is also finishing up his finals this week and we are hoping to take a long weekend and do some hiking and sight-seeing locally.
We ended up taking the Baby Bear in for a haircut on Friday. He was starting to look a little too "Albert Einstein-sh" (a direct quote from his loving nana! LOL!). I think he looked more like Ringo Star during his scruffy time. Regardless, it was time for an upgrade. We traded in that look for one that reminds Jason and I of a young John Candy. Poor kid! He did well though. It was his second haircut; at the rate his hair grows I am sure he will need another by the time we head home in June.

I hope that everyone had a great Easter! As always, we love and miss you!

Before:

After: (I had trouble getting him to sit still and ended up

tricking him into a picture during snack time!)

Arggghhhhh!!!!

This weekend we dressed ourselves up as pirates and headed to a "Pirates and Princesses" themed birthday party. It was our first introduction to the world of kiddie parties and I have to say that it was a great time. I doctored up an old Christmas onesie for L.J, threw a scarf around his waist, drew him a jaunty eyeliner moustashe and goatee and we were good to go. Of course the goatee was rubbed off before we even left the car, but the resulting smudges had a decidedly pirate appeal.

I have to say that the highlight of the afternoon for me was watching "Snow White" and "Belle" get into an all and out, roll in the grass, skirts flying, brawl. It was warrented; Snow White was honing in on Belle's presents and a princess has to defend her loot. Luckily another Snow White (the mother of the princesses in question) was able to pull apart her slightly grass stained junior royalty. Dad of course was capturing the memory on video. It was a proud moment in the kingdom; one that even Walt himself would have laughed over :)




Yo..ho..ho..ho.. pretty clever, eh? LOL! We improvised, and it was cheaper then ordering something off E-Bay!

Molokai Hawaii

Looking at the baby bear today, it is hard for me to believe that just about a year ago I was big and round and 2 short months away from giving birth (well, if he had come out when he was supposed to that is!)

Just about this time last year Jason and I decided to take one last vacation before L. was born. I left the planning to Jason and wanted nothing more then a piece of relaxation far from school, work or any such responsibilities. Jason decided on Molokai because it was 1) reasonably close 2) an island we had not visited yet 3) relatively people-free by Hawaii standards. There is a slower pace on Molokai then on any of the other islands we visited. It is the type of place that you do not visit to "do" but rather to just "be". We packed up our swimsuits and prepared to lounge by the pool and ocean for the long weekend and maybe do some mild sight-seeing.

The first day was uneventful. We took a short hike (truthfully more like a walk) to an ancient Hawaiian fertility rock and garnered quite a few jokes from passing hikers about the effectiveness of said fertility rock! Molokai was at one time a home for those suffering from leprosy. The settlement is still open, but since the vaccination people are allowed to stay at free will. The settlement itself is very isolated. We saw it from an overlook, but to actually visit would have taken a strenuous hike or donkey ride down into the valley miles below; not exactly pregnancy-friendly activities. So we settled for taking a few pictures and promising ourselves if we returned we would indeed saddle up a donkey. Beyond that, we simply enjoyed the ocean and pool and talking with people in town. Molokai is such a friendly, laid-back place. I loved living in Oahu, but it is nowhere near as welcoming of a place as Molokai. Tourism is big business on Oahu and it is a love-hate relationship with locals. On one hand there is recognition of the good that tourists bring to the economy. Yet, the flipside is a resentment that comes from being the hostess for far too long. Molokai is isolated from that and it shows in the temperament of the people living there.

Molokai is also where L. gave us our first real scare as parents. I will be the first to admit that I pushed myself hard during my pregnancy. I had this idea in my head that being pregnant should in no way impede on my way of life. I was determined to continue working, going to school full time and holding down my responsibilities at school. I even carried around a plastic bag and toothbrush for the first 20-odd weeks of my pregnancy because I did not want anything to slow me down. It is ironic that on our "relaxation" vacation that I finally had to accept that my body needed to slow down. I can honestly say that I have never been as scared as I was that weekend, hundreds of miles from my hospital, and praying to God that everything was going to be ok. It was my first true taste of fear as a parent.

My doctor was never able to pinpoint exactly why I started bleeding that weekend. There were guesses, but never any definites. I think though, that God was telling me that it was time to put my son first and prioritize my wants. I made a lot of decisions in the following days: I step aside from my role as department head at school and transitioned out of my position on leadership council. I spent the next months and a half only working 3 days a week so that I could accommodate the additional NST and doctors appointments needed to keep a check on L. Hardest though, was the decision to put off the last quarter of my grad degree until after L's birth and our move. Hard because I felt like I was quitting. I had set a goal for myself to have my degree done by the time we left Hawaii and that goal was being put aside. Yet, in the end it was a weight off my chest. I stopped trying to prove to myself that I was invincible and I just focused on taking care of my son.

A year later I am less then two weeks away from finishing my masters and it feels unreal to reflect on that weekend. Even more then L's birth, I look at that weekend as the point when I finally became a mother.




View from our hotel room. We stayed at the Molokai Ranch which is a huge working ranch with horses, cattle, and live stock. Very different from any of the other islands we visited.


Showing off how well the fertility rock rocks-- I came back down 31.5 weeks pregnant!

View of Kalaupapa,the leper colony.

Moments that make you laugh out loud!

Some kids get a fever when they teethe, others get really cranky. According to my dad I used to get a horrible ear ache and make his life a living hell. The baby bear, however, simply loses all trace of table manners and becomes the messiest eater this side of the Rockies. His 5th tooth came in a few days ago, and he is now working on the 6th, so I decided to record the memory for future embarrassment. In doing so, I discovered this classy little montage: priceless! (he learned it from his dad--I swear!)

Maui