Mooncakes and the Botanical Gardens

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, a fairly important holiday where we primarily eat mooncakes, look at the full moon if it can be seen (too cloudy tonight though) and get a one day holiday from school and work. So today we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. We had never been and heard it was a nice, spacious place to visit. Even though it was a big holiday, it was still only mildly crowded and there was space to spread out on your own. The highlight was the butterfly garden, an enclosed garden with hundreds of butterflies inside. It was also a nice cool day and a fun family outing...not sure how many more of these we will be having for awhile after Mei Mei comes.

...Been waiting for almost an hour for these photos to upload. Already got one bad request. Hopefully it will work before bedtime... ok yeah!

Austin brought his net in an attempt to catch butterflies. We didn't catch any, but did see a lot up close.

Ok, so many have asked here is a picture of my belly. Not sure it can get much bigger these next 3 + weeks, but you never know.

The boys loved the sunflowers and actually were loving on each other a little (before they reverted back to their recently normal antagonizing)

They had pink, yellow, orange and red sunflowers.

Back to school

I could not get a serious smile from my silly boy, but here he is all ready.

Today was Austin's first official day back at school. He was super excited about,which is always a good sign. Given Austin's history of being clingy to me and pretty introverted, I really wondered how he would do at school this past year. But I am so thankful that he really seems to love it, also enjoys the routine and really likes his teachers. I am really thankful for this little school and the love they show the kids. It is definitely a nurturing environment, which is what Austin needs. And his Chinese has definitely improved over the past year, he loves learning characters and seems to be doing well. We are trying 5 days a week this fall. It feels like a lot to me still for a not-quite 5 year old, but the school really encourages the attendance, he really does like it and the afternoon schedule is working really well for us (he just goes in the afternoons again). I think for language development the consistency is really helpful too.

He moved up into the next class- he is a little young, but most of the 8 kids in his class were recently 5 so he is not that far apart in age. They redecorated the school over the summer and it is really nice and inviting. All Chinese class is in one room and English is in another- so Austin spends the afternoon in the same place mostly ( he does not attend the English portion for obvious reasons). He was also really excited to learn they had new bathrooms- 4 little private stalls with 2 child-size Western toilets and 2 child-size squatties. Definitely a rare thing in Chinese preschools to have small Western toilets and privacy!

This is his new classroom.

Today on the way to school Austin was so cute. I was talking to him about obeying his teachers and being kind to the other kids and he said" I think we should make a Bible verse about that. About ...we should share with others and be kind to them...so we can become children of God." I explained we don't make up our own verses, but that was a great idea and those ideas are all in the Bible and we can find a good verse to memorize about those things.

Only a boy (well I guess we will see)

Today I put Bennett down to nap and Austin and I ran some errands out while Chris worked at home in his office. I don't know what transpired during Bennett's nap time, but I when I went in to wake him up when I got home, this is what I found.



He was fast asleep on the floor, complete with Jimmy Doggie and clutching his ice cream. And THIS is what was beside him on the floor.


Yes, that is his little potty full of pee pee and cars. Yes, he had peed in it right before nap and yes, I had not actually bothered to dump it out (in pregnant state or even not I confess I do not clean it every time). This has never really been a problem before. But what possessed him to fill it with his cars and Mack truck is beyond me. Hence the title- "only a boy" for surely only a boy would play cars in pee during naptime and then fall asleep beside it. However, I am sure I will have plenty of surprises with what Mei Mei is capable of too in a few years.

We have also had a resurrection of Bee Man, or rather Bee Men lately. Austin and Bennett have both been "Bee Man". Austin likes to pretend he is good Bee Man and Bennett is bad Bee Man and they fight. Bennett walks around making a buzzing noise. Sometimes though, like in this last picture, Bennett gets upset that he is bad Bee Man and gets really mad at Austin when he keeps fighting him. But they are pretty funny.

Gotta love Bennett in his undies under the outfit.

The fall schedule is about to be in full swing. Austin starts back at school tomorrow. We officially decided to wait another semester with Bennett, since we are privileged to have lots of family visiting this fall and he is still not yet 3 and doing well but still not always consistent with potty training. Considering his extreme love of being at my side all the time, he probably won't mind waiting though I think he will love it when the time comes. Chris' weekly schedule is about to pick up speed too and (very thankfully for this pregnant momma) the weather is cooling off a little bit!

Singing and pirates

I guess my only excuse for sporadic posting lately is the fact that I am almost 9 months pregnant. I am definitely wearing out earlier at night (my usual time to update the blog). We were away this weekend and settling back at home now. We made a last trip to the pool today. It is open another week, but school starts for Austin next Tuesday and while it is pretty fun, it is a lot of work to get everyone to the pool. Austin learned a lot this summer though- he can do a back float, kick with his arms in front of him on his front side, loves going under water and will jump off the side of the pool with no floating device (well, where he can still stand but it is somewhat deep for him). He made vast improvement and has lost a lot (but not all) fear of the water.

Here are some random pictures and videos. Austin has decided lately he wanted to dress up like a pirate and was very creative in assembling his outfit. We are thinking maybe he will have a pirate party when he turns 5...but we will see. Lots will happen between now and then!

You can see his eye patch (he first made an eye patch from a piece of an egg carton, but then we found one of those eye covers they give you on planes and used it instead. The exercise mat wrapped around his leg is his wooden leg. All his own idea.

We used to sing with Austin before bed and when he was 2 + he refused to sing and for some reason didn't want to. And for some reason we got in a bed time routine that excluded singing for about 2 years. Recently we decided we needed to resurrect that habit and it has been so fun. Bennett LOVES it and I feel bad that Austin's 2 year old whim robbed him of this tradition but he gets really into it. Austin likes it again and Chris plays guitar. You can see a highlight of Bennett's eager singing.


The weather was hot today, but has showed signs of cooling off recently. I am ready for cooler weather. It continues to be a rainy, muggy, cloudy summer here. We are thinking lots about my sis Charlotte and brother-in-law John today- they are in the air somewhere on their way to Nairobi, Kenya for 4 months. We are excited for them. OK, good night from here.

Mei Mei

Here she is! I never posted my 20 week ultrasound picture because, well to be honest she looked like a skeleton or something. It was just a weird shot so I didn't. This is the profile of her head...her mouth and nose on the top middle and you barely make out an ear right in the middle of the circle. And yes, apparently her head is big...does look a bit like her brothers to me, though you might not be able to tell much at all. But for the curious, here she is. Looking to make an appearance in around 6 or 7 weeks we think.

the good news and the bad

Well, the bad news is that Bennett started throwing up tonight. After a long nap, he did not quite seem himself and before dinner was asking me to "tuck him in" on the floor, where he was laying on Jimmy Dog. I convinced him to lay on the couch. I actually did not feel very well today either so Chris picked up McDonalds on his way home, but Bennett didn't want any food. After laying on the couch awhile, he threw up, to be repeated an hour later. Poor thing, he is asleep now but I am doubtful it will be a full night of sleep for most of us. But praying maybe that was all, we will see.

The good news is we had a good check up for mei mei yesterday. They did another ultrasound (which is standard at this hospital in the 3rd trimester). Everything looked healthy, she is already head down. However, it does seem like she is going to follow her brothers with a big head- her head was measuring a month ahead of the rest of her. They also estimate she is already 2.3 kilos or a little over 5 pounds! Yikes, I hope they are wrong because 6 or 7 more weeks in here might mean I am birthing a big baby. Otherwise, we are thankful for a good check up. I got another ultrasound picture that I will scan in soon, but I am too tired to do it tonight.

Otherwise, it was a really slow week around here. Lots of rain. We made it to the pool today, but the water was really cold, it was very overcast and started raining so it was a shorter trip than usual.

B is for Bennett and the Quiet Quail O

Bennett is a piece of work these days. He is both hilarious and obstinate, learning new things and then reverting to being Mommy's sidekick.

He recently has become very interested in learning his letters. Poor thing, I am sure he has had less than half the attention Austin had from us poured into reading and teaching his ABC's, but he seems to know them all now anyway. Lately he loves books we have that teach ABC's and loves to say what each letter is for. Example, his favorites are A, B, M and D, for Austin, Bennett, Mommy and Daddy. Ever since we started potty training, he often says when he goes the bathroom "pee pee and poo poo both start with P". Almost every time. He originally said "pee pee and poo poo rhyme"( I have no idea what gave him that idea) but I corrected him and it stuck.

The other day we were passing this furniture store, oddly titled "QM". The letters are huge and on the top of the building. When we passed it, he said "It's the quiet quail O". He knows Q is for quiet quail (from a Curious George book) and recognized it, but I guess forgot the name of Q and came up with the closest thing. He is so cute and endearing, but then also has a very stubborn side too. Lately he is fixated on these 3 or 4 toys that he insists on carrying with him everywhere around the house. He would take them outside too if I let him but I definitely do not. Usually it is Jimmy doggie (his giant golden retriever), his drawing pad and either a play cupcake or ice cream cone. Chris said he will use this in a talk illustration about the hindrance of sin- how it is hard to hold on to things so tightly because of how much it weighs us down. Bennett is constantly dropping one, can't find one or has a hard time doing things because his hands are so full but he refuses to let go of one or more. Funny little guy, but they really do hinder him a lot of the time.

He still loves to be by my side most days and lately asks me about every 5 minutes if I will go downstairs and play with him. Most of the time he asks this at a most inconvenient time, like in the middle of washing breakfast dishes or something like that. While it often is not what I want to stop and go do, I have been trying to just stop and play with him more. He loves it and a lot will change in a couple of months and I keep reminding myself to treasure this time with Bennett now. So we have spent time lately, mostly playing "riding the boat" (a comforter on the floor of the basement that he and Austin usually say is a boat. We usually wake up and go to sleep multiple times on the boat and in between sleeping he makes me food (especially ice cream) and we "eat" it. That is definitely the favorite pretend game these days.

Today at nap when I woke him up he looked at me and said "mommy I'm little". True and not true too! I'm glad he is still little, but feels like he is getting so big (as in older) lately. Is sometimes wish I could bottle this stage of cute sayings up and affection up.